Cursum Perficio
by Alina
Summary: Enter the Matrixbased AU: What did Vlad want with Niobe? COMPLETE
1. Warehouse

**Title**: Cursum Perficio

**Rating**: Strong PG-13, maybe R. Basically blood, guts, and gore. You know.

**Summary**: (ETM based AU) What did Vlad want with Niobe in the Chateau?

**Spoilers**: Enter the Matrix and the Matrix Reloaded. If you haven't played or seen them and don't want to be spoiled, don't read. If you want to know about ETM, go to my site for a transcript.

**Category**: Alternate Universe and Angst.

**A/N**: Constructive criticism is very much craved, as I'm not too sure about whether what I'm trying to do makes any sense. Please help me by telling me what you think and how I can improve!

**Disclaimer**: The Matrix and all its appendages are the brainchildren of Larry and Andy Wachowski and are carefully guarded by Warner Brothers. _Enter the Matrix_ was developed by Shiny Entertainment and produced by Infogames. This is purely a piece of nonprofit entertainment. _Cursum Perficio_ is the title of a song on Enya's _Watermark_ CD.

A special thank you to Blake, who generously betaed the fic for me. *bows reverently*

**Chapter One**: Warehouse

****

Niobe knew from the moment she walked in that something was very wrong with the Chateau. It was so...foreboding.

She knew she couldn't deny that it was beautiful. Warm sunlight poured in from the story-high stained glass windows, accentuated by flowing curtains. Fabulous paintings, one of whom Niobe believed was Poussin's _Et in Arcadia, Ego..._ adorned the walls along with friezes and decorative coats of arms. And along the floor, a plush ruby-red carpet ran through the halls, contrasting with the white marble and softening the sounds of Niobe's footfalls. It was truly a beautiful place, as dazzling as a diamond.

But for all its beauty, this gem gave off no warmth. The window's stained glass warped the outside world and made Niobe feel like a caged animal. The formality of the Chateau's Baroque architecture coupled with its immensity was oppressing. She felt more on guard in here than she had felt back in the sewers a few short minutes ago.

And, most disturbing of all, there was no sign of anything alive in the place aside from her, not even a pet cat. Niobe was damn well sure of that. It was so quiet that she could have heard a pin drop.

_Okay, let's find a spot where there's reception, get directions from Sparks, find the key the jackasses stole, and get the hell out of here,_ she told herself, rounding a corner from the Great Hall. She paused three steps later, glanced behind her, trying to see which direction Ghost, her first mate, had gone, and did a double take.

The door she had passed through no longer showed the Great Hall on the other side. Now it was...a bedroom?

"What the hell...?" Niobe muttered. She walked into to the room and checked the door to see if it had been a trick or if she was seeing things, but it looked like the bedroom had always been there.

_Maybe the entry point location changed, like in the maintenance passage,_ she rationalized, trying to make sense of what was going on. She shook her head, rejecting the possibility. _No, that makes no sense. The door has to be closed first, and I didn't close it-_

SLAM!

Back in the hallway Niobe had sought to venture into, the sound of a slamming door echoed, amplified by the marble. She wheeled around to investigate and spotted a man at the opposite end of the hall, several hundred meters away from her.

He was dressed all in black, reminiscent of how she and other rebels tended to dress inside the Matrix. He also had straight, limp, shoulder-length black hair and skin so pale that it was practically white. All he needed was a black cape, and he would have been an instant winner in a 'Severus Snape lookalike' contest.

Niobe stared at him, silently demanding that he explain himself. He smiled, clearly entertained by her presence. He was daring her with his eyes, challenging her prowess. And behind her sunglasses, anger flared in her brown eyes.

She burst into a sprint towards him, confident that she would catch him. She was a free mind; no one could run faster than a freed mind save for Neo and Agents. She would kick this guy's ass and get the information she needed. No sweat.

Her actions apparently amused him even more. With equally quick steps, he turned down the hall to the left and disappeared around a corner, laughing heartily. All it did was infuriate Niobe. He was taunting her!

She focused, and the world around her slowed down, although her pace did not. She ran down a flight of stairs and around the corner after the man, following the sound of his laughter. Eventually, she did have to stop. Her breath was nearly spent, and she had not been able to catch up to him. The laughter quickly faded away, leaving her no indication as to where he had gone.

By now, the ship captain was through playing around. She reached for her cell phone and dialed the Logos' number, forgetting that it wouldn't work inside the Chateau. Only static greeted her at the other end of the line. Unfortunately, her error gave Vlad, the man she had been chasing all along, enough time to drop down from his perch on the ceiling and take her out from behind. She slumped to the ground before she could even react.

* * *

The laughter reminded her of Richard. That was why she hated it even more than what would have been considered normal.

Every Wednesday was order day, the day that the warehouse would receive its latest shipment of surplus items from other warehouses. What they would receive depended on what there was too much of. Usually, they got sent lots of damaged canned goods and plastic kid toys. But sometimes they would receive books, a record or three, or even some chocolate. She used to find it interesting.

After working three months in the warehouse, she had stopped caring what they were being sent. All it meant were different words on the invoice in any case. Eventually, she just stuck to her job: check the contents, make sure everything in her palettes had been received, label the cardboard boxes, and put the boxes on shelves so that someone else could come and get it when they needed it.

It was also (in theory) what Richard was supposed to be doing. Not that he ever did. Most of the time he would sit on his boxes and watch the others work while sipping a coffee or smoking a cigarette. When he did decide to work, he would casually toss the boxes to the nearest shelf, just to get it out of the way. The only reason he got away with it was because he had been with the company so many years. Or so she had been told by the others.

Today, he had decided that she was a source of entertainment, and watched her work from his perch atop a pile of boxes of baby bottles. She found it disconcerting initially, but refused to let him see that it bothered her. She kept her eyes and mind on her job, and tried to ignore him. It was easy, at first. At least until he started talking.

"Ooh, nice throw hun!" he remarked sarcastically as she tossed a lighter box onto a high shelf. She allowed herself enough pause to glare questioningly at him before returning to her job.

"Aw, c'mon. I'm just trying to be nice," he continued, hopping down from his makeshift seat and walking towards her.

"I'm sure you are," she answered flatly, ending the conversation she didn't want to have.

He cracked a smile and laughed, as if she had just made the funniest joke ever. "That's my girl," he said, pinching her ass, "always playing hard to get." He sauntered away, probably to the bathroom, without giving her a chance to react. She stared in the direction that he had left, fury growing in her expression.

_Don't fucking touch me._

* * *

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

It was the constant slamming of her unresponsive body against the wooden staircase that brought Niobe back to consciousness. She groaned and tried to move on her own, quickly assessing the situation. She had been caught, and was being dragged up a very long staircase by the collar of her snakeskin jacket.

Her captor, Vlad, stopped pulling her up the stairs, noting that she was awake again. He slinked around her so he could see her face to face. Again, he smiled a Cheshire grin. He looked like he had just won the lottery.

"I know I should take you to the Merovingian," he said in a mocking tone, "but the thing is, he might just kill you."

He backhanded her across the face, and the world faded to black again.

* * *

Speed had always been her outlet. For as long as she could remember, she had always wanted to go faster and farther than before. It had always set her apart from everyone else. No one her age could run faster than she could. She had never questioned this desire, although she had pondered about 'why speed?' for a long time. Eventually, she settled on a one-word answer: escape.

And it made sense. She never ran in competitions, or to win. She never ran seriously against someone else. She ran for herself, to get away. It was only when the world faded away to a blurry mass did she feel clarity. She ran when she needed to think.

When she was seven, she learned to bike, and the possibilities expanded exponentially. She was thrilled at the ability to go faster than before. For hours on end, she would take her bike and whiz through the city streets, exploring new areas and contemplating in known ones. When she was on her bike, she was untouchable, the master of her world. When she could feel the wind against her face, she felt in control.

Imagine her glee when she learned how to drive a car.

* * *

Niobe wasn't sure how much time had passed. Minutes? Hours? Days? She felt like she had just been unplugged and was lost in a myriad image and senses that she couldn't handle because her mind was confused. Wooden ceiling. Hard floors. Dust. Musk. Smoke. Candles were burning on tall candlesticks all around her; daylight was trying to creep in from a tiny window. Time held no meaning.

A clammy hand caressed her cheek, cold to the touch. Instinctively she jerked away.

Vlad smiled and stepped away from her. The candles started to fall, one after the other. The world began to spin again, spiraling away from her perception.

Niobe distinctly felt something prick her neck.

* * *

She was approached in one of her favorite haunts, a park next to the lake. She had stopped to sit at a bench in front of a fountain to take a breather, when he walked up behind her.

"You're almost as fast as you are when you're racing your car," he said, catching her off guard. She watched as he joined her on the bench, smiling knowingly. He was definitely well off, based on his expensive leather jacket and pale skin. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of brown-tinted sunglasses.

"I think you've got the wrong person," she replied evasively, getting up to leave. This man had invaded her solitary world without invitation, and she didn't feel like talking. That was why she was running.

"No, I don't. You're Niobe. You won that cash prize at the races outside of town. You're pretty good, especially for your age."

"Was. My car's impounded," she corrected, crossing her arms, "now what's the point of all this?"

He stood up and faced her, nodding slightly. "Of course. Where are my manners? My name is Tiresias. Your friend Joseph told me about you."

"I haven't seen him in months. Last I heard from him was that he was going off to find the answers to some...personal questions."

Still running. Still refusing to trust.

"He did. He told me to tell you, 'I ran fast enough to escape.'"

That got her attention. She had been close with Joseph; he was her best friend. He knew her racing name. And, more importantly, he knew something nobody else but her knew. He knew why she ran. To escape.

Tiresias appeared to be content with the tidbits of knowledge that he had offered to her in a few short sentences, and took out a piece of neatly folded paper, handing it to her in a quick and smooth gesture.

"He wants you to find your way out too. Think about it," he quipped. Then, when she looked up from the paper he had handed her, he was gone, as if he had never been beside her.

She stared at the slip of paper in her small hands, and unfolded it, revealing a telephone number and an address for a place downtown.

* * *

It was only later, when she and Ghost had escaped the twisting labyrinth of the Chateau, had outrun the Twins in a stolen car, and had made it back to the exit that she even noticed the wound.

"Captain..." Ghost began, offering her the hardline phone first. She shook her head. He had been just as beat up as her, and yet her first mate still felt a need to ensure her protection first and his second.

"After you," she ordered, cracking a small smile. Ghost didn't argue the point with her any further and jacked out, his form disappearing into thin air as the Matrix enveloped the space he had been occupying.

Niobe replaced the phone and waited for it to ring, glancing around the empty building and outside to ensure that they had not been followed. Her hands ran up her own neck, supporting it and kneading the tense muscles. She felt something warm and sticky on her left hand, slowly seeping under her gloves from the openings for her fingers, and frowned. It was drying blood.

Niobe opened her leather jacket to the point where she could expose her neck, and walked over to a window, examining her wound in the opaque reflection.

There was no doubt about it. It was a bitemark.

_The bastard fucking bit me! What the hell did he think he was? A vampire?_ She thought, mentally cursing Vlad.

The telephone on the wooden table at the centre of the warehouse began to ring again, snapping Niobe out of her reverie. She zipped her jacket back up and answered the phone.

What Niobe wasn't sure of was whether or not he really had been a vampire. As the Oracle would later tell Neo, she was right.

Last edited: November 2, 2003.


	2. Wants and Needs

**Disclaimer**: The Matrix and all its appendages are the brainchildren of Larry and Andy Wachowski and are carefully guarded by Warner Brothers. _Enter the Matrix_ was developed by Shiny Entertainment and produced by Infogames. This is purely a piece of nonprofit entertainment. _Cursum Perficio _is the title of a song on Enya's _Watermark_ CD.

More thank yous to Blake for proofreading the chapter. :)

**Chapter Two: Wants and Needs**

"This is Zion Control to the Logos. Gate Three is standing down; your path is cleared to Bay Two. Welcome home."

"Thank you Control. It's good to be home," Niobe answered through the intercom in the cockpit before switching it off and returning her attention to parking the ship in the appointed docking bay.

"Damn good," Ghost agreed, breathing in a sigh of relief. Before the Logos, the immense metal gates that protected Zion from machine onslaughts began to shift apart with an ancient-sounding series of clicks, and a shaft of strong light from the docking bay broke through the opening, illuminating the interior of the cockpit like an aura. Ghost closed his eyes in a small moment of meditation, welcoming the presence of the light after spending so long hiding in the dim tunnels of the Real. Complete serenity and safety emanated from Zion's lights. However, in his Zen-like state, he was easily able to discern a flicker of discomfort regarding the light inside the Logos, disturbing the outer calm like a tiny ripple in a pool of water. He didn't need to ask where it was coming from. He already knew.

"Your eyes still hurt, don't they?" he asked Niobe gently, concern replacing his sense of calm.

"I'm fine. I just spent a bit too much time in the dark on this run," she answered as she maneuvered their tiny vessel onto a landing platform.

Ghost said nothing more, but wasn't convinced.

When Niobe had jacked out, Sparks had insisted on giving both of them a thorough physical. While both officers were showing strong signs of mental and physical fatigue, Niobe had two other things: a bruise on her neck that wouldn't go away, and a sudden increased sensitivity to bright lights.

Cases of this were virtually normal among ship crews because they spent so much time in badly lit hovercrafts. The condition was even present inside the Matrix, which was why most rebels wore sunglasses. But Niobe's sudden hypersensitivity was extremely odd. The condition just didn't worsen so drastically overnight, let alone over a few hours.

Niobe had dismissed Sparks' concerns, telling him that he was overreacting, and had gone about her duties. Initially, Ghost had thought the same thing. While Sparks usually acted flippant and even self-centred at times, Ghost knew that he secretly felt responsible for whatever injuries they sustained while on a mission. The Chateau and Industrial Hallway had rendered him to a spectator.

But, as Ghost had observed Niobe as they made their way back to Zion, while she ate her meals (where she ate significantly less than usual), when he relieved her of duty (she refused to be relieved, snapping that she wasn't tired and could drive fine), and when she spoke (which was far less than normal, given that she hadn't said more than five words at a time), he could see that something was wrong with her. He had known Niobe for many years, and she was acting in a way that was very uncharacteristic of her normally tough but cheerful nature. She was closed, aloof, and physically weak, even though she would never admit it.

After the Logos has docked and Niobe had left, retreating for her quarters, Ghost lingered behind to talk with Sparks, at his request.

"Ghost," Sparks began hurriedly, already assuming that he was going to be chastised again, "I know you're probably going to just tell me that I'm...overreacting, or something like that, but you've _got_ to believe me. Something screwy is going on with Niobe. I _saw_ it. Something is wrong with her!"

"I believe you," Ghost replied simply.

"I'm _not_ crazy man, why can't you just-" Sparks stopped in mid-sentence, finally registering what Ghost had said. "I'm sorry...did I just hear you..._agreeing_ with me?"

"You sound surprised."

Sparks glared sarcastically at his superior officer before cracking a smile. "Heh. There may be hope for you yet," he quipped.

Ghost rolled his eyes and forced Sparks back onto the topic at hand. "You said you saw something happen to her? I assume you mean other than the fact that she was assaulted by one of those programs that were running around in the Chateau."

"Yea. It...it's kind of hard to describe. I didn't actually _see_ something hurt her in the code. Her vitals died when she was knocked out, but I couldn't see what was going on in there. But once you and her got out of that place and those Twin things were chasing you, she looked _different_. Like some kind of virus had infected her RSI. But not like a flu virus. More like a computer virus. That's really the only way I can describe it."

"Sparks, are you sure? Both of us were in the middle of a volatile situation. Are you certain that it wasn't just some mark of stress?" Ghost pressed. He wanted to be absolutely sure that both he and Sparks were not overreacting.

"Ghost, give me some credit here! I stare at your RSIs nonstop while you're in the Matrix," Sparks argued, "I've stared at them for two years! They haven't changed much! And I'm telling you, the shit I saw running through her RSI was not stress. I'm positive that it was some kind of virus, one that I've never seen before in my life. It was running around her code and changing stuff!"

Ghost nodded, staring off into space as he went over what Sparks was saying. Despite whatever shortcomings the operator had, Ghost knew that he wouldn't lie about something like this. His explanation was their only one until they managed to convince Niobe to see a doctor.

"We have to make her see someone about this," he eventually declared somberly, clearly not liking the prospect. "And soon. I have a feeling that it's only going to get worse, if what you're saying is true."

"I know," the operator agreed, catching Ghost's eye, "but what exactly can we do? It's like you said: it's always her way or the highway once she's made up her mind. If she thinks she's fine, she's not going to listen to us."

"We could file something with our superiors."

"You mean talk to Deadbolt," Sparks corrected, catching Ghost's meaning.

"Basically."

Sparks scoffed at the suggestion. "Oh, she'll _love_ us for that. Going to her boyfriend."

"Do you have any better ideas?" Ghost asked. His companion stared down at him challengingly with his pale blue eyes before lowering his head in defeat.

"No. What bothers me is that she'll be taken off duty, whether we do something or not. I don't want to be around when that happens."

* * *

She didn't tell anyone except Joseph about Richard's unwanted attention. In fact, she wouldn't even have told him had he not forced the issue out of her.

They were sitting on benchtables outside a fast food joint near the highway. She said nothing while she munched away at her hot dog, happy just to have Joseph around. Eventually though, he set down his soda and looked at her questioningly.

"Something's up," he observed pointedly, fiddling with his plastic straw has he caught her eye. She blinked in surprise and quickly tried to compose herself.

"Why do you say that?" she responded, suddenly finding her paper plate to be quite intriguing.

"Because you suck at hiding it from me. I am your best friend, after all. So spill. You want to talk about it."

"It's nothing," she asserted, more to herself than to Joseph.

He frowned, clearly not accepting her answer, but then shrugged and put on his own indifferent face. "Fine. Whatever you say."

She tried to brush off the topic too and finish eating, but now that he had started to press her about it, she couldn't. He was right; she did want to talk about it. She just didn't want to admit it.

"It's just-"

She stopped talking almost as soon as she started. It was nothing serious, she reminded herself. She knew that. Hundreds of people went through worse shit, and here she was making a big deal out of something so small. She hated herself for letting it get to her. It made her feel weak and whiny, something she absolutely abhorred.

Joseph remained silent, but kept his brown eyes locked on hers. She stared back, scrutinizing his look. He wasn't challenging her. She knew _that_ look all too well, having seen it dozens of times in races. No, he was just looking at her, ready to accept whatever she had to say. Joseph knew she needed to talk and he was willing to listen. That was all. She couldn't say no to it, and started to get the whole thing off her chest.

"It's that asshole, Richard. The one I told you about a while ago," she blurted, lowering her eyes in defeat.

"The guy who grabbed you? Is he still doing that?" Joseph asked, his face developing a sour expression as if they were discussing some form of lower life scum.

"Yes," she admitted, "and yes, he's still following me around and stuff. I can handle that. The thing is-"

He picked up on her concerns and voiced them for her. "You're afraid he might do something more. That he might try to bang you up."

She nodded, taking a gulp of her drink to soothe her suddenly parched throat. It felt like she hadn't had anything to drink all day.

"I know he tried it on another girl. When she went to the manager, he called her a liar and threw her out. He won't believe anything anyone has got to say about him when it's bad. The two are all buddy-buddy, you know?"

"You should quit," Joseph said bluntly. It was the safest option. But instead she shook her head.

"Joseph, I _can't_. I need the money. I've got to help pay for bills at home now, and I have to get my car back. And God knows there ain't any other jobs around here. If I quit, I'll be kicked outta my house for not paying rent, and I'll have no way to make money unless I can get my car back."

She sighed in exasperation, clenching her fists. "I can't believe I'm worked up over this. It's so frustrating! I want to _do_ something, but I can't. I swear, if I were racing that bastard, he'd learn a lesson. But without my car…I'm nothing."

It felt like an eternity of nothing but the white noise of speeding cars coming from behind her before her friend answered her. "You know what I think Vivian?" he eventually said, "I think you need to learn how to fight. Like karate, or kickboxing or something. That way you can fight back if he tries something. You'd be good at that."

"I'm a little small to be intimidating," she answered with a laugh, unable to understand where that idea had come from.

"Don't be so unsure. You know the dojo down by the theater? The teacher there can't be more than an inch taller than you, and I've seen him kick the asses of men twice his size."

"You've been learning there?" she asked. It would be the only reason that he would know about the master.

"Not for long, but I know that he'd teach you in a second if you asked."

"I don't know..."

Joseph grabbed her hand and caught her eye again. "I know that if you put your mind to it, you'll feel stronger. You'll not only be Niobe behind the wheel, but all the time. It helps that much, Viv. That's how it makes me feel. I'm not just Thadeus when I'm racing anymore. I'm always Thadeus. It's who I _am_ now. I feel invincible, and I know you will too. So whaddya say?"

She resigned herself to his suggestion and nodded. What the hell, it couldn't hurt to try, right?

"Well, I can't say no to that."

* * *

Niobe reminisced about that conversation from so long ago as she sank into a chair in her quarters as Jason left, closing the metal hatch on his way out. It still hadn't quite sunk in that Thadeus, and the rest of his crew, were dead. While she had always known that it might happen, and she had imagined feeling overwhelmed by sadness and tears in its wake, she felt none of these things. She was completely numb, and the only thing she could think of in relation to his death was that she'd never get to talk to him again. Their conversations had always been among her favorite memories. Now, there wouldn't be any more of them to reminisce about.

As these things ran through her mind, she instinctively shielded her face from the artificial lighting above her. It was too bright, and she wanted nothing more than to get into her room and have a hot shower in the dark. Resolved to make it so, she stood up and moved to the lightswitch, killing the lights.

_Will I ever be able to be open with anyone else like that?_ she wondered, locking her door securely and heading for the shower stall, _is there anyone else that I'm really that close with?_

The only possible person she could think of was Jason, the man that she had just kissed a few minutes ago in the same room. It had struck her as he left that her kiss had not been the passionate embrace Persephone had demanded, but rather the chaste, unloving kiss that she had initially given the shapely program. She tried to justify it, telling herself that he deserved a cheapass kiss. _Hell, he didn't even ask me how I was doing!_ Despite her best efforts, the dismal thoughts remained, rendering her mind as dark as her room.

Niobe slammed her palm against the wall in annoyance, and accidentally nicked it against a shard of outcropping metal. A small streak of red blood began to seep through the cut as she registered the pain, and she looked at it curiously, mesmerized by the blood flow. Instead of pressing a piece of cloth to it to stop the blood, as she would have done under normal circumstances, she pressed the open cut to her mouth and sucked on the cut, savoring the coppery blood.

It was by far the best tasting thing that she had drank since her mission in the Matrix. _I never knew that blood could taste so good_, she thought, unable to stop herself from drinking her own blood.

* * *

Less than an hour later, Sparks and Ghost marched purposely through Control's Headquarters, coming to an uneasy stop in front of one of the bulky doors. The air on Control was abnormally tense; everyone was on edge because of the approaching armada, and protecting the city from it was going to be a daunting task to say the least.

The two crewmates also felt the weight of hard times ahead, but for slightly different reasons. They weren't about to have a showdown with an armada. They were about to do something far more daring (and possibly stupider).

They were about to contend with Commander Lock. He wasn't called Deadbolt just because it was funny.

Sparks reached for the handle of the metal hatch, and abruptly pulled back from it as if it were made of molten lava.

"I don't think this is a good idea," he declared in a hushed tone to Ghost, who shook his head in dismay, allowing a tinge of annoyance to cross his normally placid expression.

"Sparks, I thought we decided that this was our best course of action," he reminded the operator, who nodded, staring at the floor.

"The best idea we could think of, yes. But that still doesn't make it a good one," Sparks replied. He sounded as if he expected a Squiddy to come out from behind the door once they opened it.

Ghost couldn't help but feel the same way deep down, but there was nothing either of they could do about it at this point. It was best to simply accept it as what it was. To seal their fate, Ghost rapped his hand across Lock's door. There was no turning back now.

"Come in."

Inside, Commander Jason Lock, commander of Zion's defense force, was sitting at his desk with his usual sour look. Ghost couldn't tell if he was upset about Zion's state of unrest or if he was just displeased at seeing them. Neither seemed to be too far of a stretch.

"Gentlemen, I hope that this is a pressing matter. In case you haven't noticed, there's a war going on and I have to organize the city's defense," he said in welcome, barely looking up from his desk. Ghost and Sparks exchanged glances, Sparks clearly encouraging Ghost to take the lead.

"Believe me Commander, this is something that couldn't wait until the debriefings," Ghost answered assuredly, conceding to Sparks' silent plea. Lock finally looked up and regarded the two questioningly, not wanting to beat around the bush.

"It concerns Niobe," Ghost continued, stressing her name. Lock blinked in surprise at the topic and laid down his work, finally giving them his full attention. His actions gave Ghost a sense of hope. Maybe this would work out well.

"What about her?" the Commander asked coolly.

"Have you been to see her?" Ghost asked.

"I have, although I don't see why that's any business of yours," Lock answered hesitantly before snapping back onto the defensive.

Ghost shook his head and kneeled down so that he was at eye level with the commander, while Sparks continued to hover in the background, unsure of what to say or do.

"Then I'm sure you know what I'm talking about," Ghost pointed out. "You know that something's wrong with her."

"I know that she's tired. That's what she told me," Lock asserted.

"And the fact that she's about three shades paler and doesn't say more than give words at a time didn't strike you as odd?" Sparks quipped, earning a murderous glare from Lock.

"Are you insinuating that I'm too blind to tell if something were bothering her?" Lock snapped back, slamming his fist onto his desk as he rose to his feet. "I'm not a fool. You're overreacting."

"Then you have noticed that she's acting strange," said Ghost.

"I noticed that she's tired, stressed, and not herself, most probably because Thadeus is dead. Beyond that, I fail to see why this is of utmost concern."

"It's not because Thadeus is dead that she's acting this way. It's being caused by something that invaded her code when she was in the Matrix! Doesn't that bother you in the least?" Sparks shot back.

"I'm sorry, something 'invaded' her code? I see. Can you be a bit more specific?" Lock demanded, leaving Sparks without an answer.

"Well..."

"Do you have any proof that her 'code' has been altered, short of your own testimony? Considering that this is unheard of, I trust that you were intelligent enough to make a record of it? A screenshot? A reproduction?" Lock continued furiously.

"Isn't my word enough?" Sparks asked incredulously.

"No, it's not, _crewman_. In case you forgot, that's why you're an operator on a ship in the bowels of the planet and not a lieutenant in Control, because no one can rely on your to obey orders and to follow procedure! People who don't know how to shut you up _die_ around you! If I had my way, you wouldn't be operating on any ship, let alone Niobe's!"

The Commander's words clearly hit a nerve for Sparks, and from Ghost's point of view it looked like they were seeping into his soul like fast-working venom. His normally boyish expression visibly melted away and left nothing but pure fury. Lock had clearly gone into forbidden territory.

Sparks nearly charged at Lock, and probably would have decked him (and then have been escorted to the stockades) had Ghost not grabbed his arms and restrained him, preventing him from moving forward even though Sparks was the larger man.

"Sparks, wait outside," Ghost ordered sternly. They were getting nowhere, and Sparks was only making things worse.

The operator relaxed in Ghost's grip and crossed his arms awkwardly once he was released, exiting the room as he muttered various obscenities to himself. Once the door clanked shut, Ghost tried one last time to get through to the Commander. If he could salvage the conversation, he still had a chance.

"Commander, may I speak freely?" he asked frankly, still holding Lock's impenetrable gaze with his own.

"You may," Lock answered curtly, sitting back down, but not dropping his guard.

"Do you trust my judgment?"

"More than I trust your operator's."

Ghost leaned closer to Lock, speaking quietly.

"Then believe me when I say that Sparks isn't making this up. He saw a virus infect her code, and it's changing her. If there's nothing you can do as our superior, then _please_. Get around it. You're one of the only people she's close to. You love her. That must count for something. There must be something you can do."

For a few seconds, Ghost thought that he had gotten through to Lock. The Commander seemed to resign himself to Ghost's words and accept them as he leaned back in his chair, thinking. After another minute of silence, he spoke again.

"I see where this is going. Your coward of an operator convinced you that Niobe's too harsh of a captain and you want her removed from duty!"

...Or not.

"Well your operator's plan was a piece of crap!" Lock spat, "And I can't believe that you've gone along with it!"

"Commander-"

"I've heard enough. Rest assured that I have both Zion and Niobe's best interests in mind, although the latter are no business of yours. But try and pull shit like this one more time and I'll demote both of you to janitors in the reclamation level!"

_That's it. I give up._

"Request to be dismissed, sir," Ghost asked curtly, abandoning his apparently futile attempt to get through to Lock.

"Dismissed," Lock answered with an equally stiff tone. Ghost left the room without another word and hardly a sound, leaving Lock alone to contemplate what had just transpired. While Ghost had not managed to convince him that Niobe was currently in any danger whatsoever, he had inadvertently implanted the seeds of fear that something might happen to her in the future, especially if she returned to the field. Forget worries of imaginary viruses; the real danger was the fleet of Sentinels!

Lock prided himself on being rational, the one that followed procedure and had the rank to prove it. Next to the head of the Council, he was the most powerful person in Zion. Unfortunately, when Niobe's safety was involved, he was overprotective and highly irrational and didn't even know it.

Before Ghost and his idiot of an operator had intruded on him, he had been hastily completing the outline for a counterattack so that he could present it to the Council for approval when the first opportunity presented itself. On a sheet of recycled paper, notes were scrawled along the margins of a schematic of the pipelines directly surrounding Zion. Names of ships were scattered through some highlighted passages in his clear, crisp handwriting. Lock's eyes were drawn to the label 'Logos,' which he had placed somewhat in the back of the lines.

After a moment's hesitation, he crossed out the name from all parts of the paper, and added a footnote at the bottom:

_Logos N/A_

He couldn't lose her. Even though some part of him was reminded that she would probably only perish if the line failed, which meant they would all die anyways, his need to ensure her safety overrode everything else.

Several paces away from Lock's door, Ghost found Sparks leaning against the metallic wall and kicking at the air with one leg impatiently. He didn't even notice Ghost approach him until they were face to face, at which point he stopped kicking and sighed heavily, averting his gaze to the ground so that he didn't have to look Ghost in the eye.

"So did he listen to you?" Sparks muttered.

"About as much as a brick wall would."

The operator laughed quietly, shaking his head. "I hate him. He's an asshole. He thinks that my opinion's worth crap based on shit that shouldn't matter anymore," he said angrily, his voice practically growling.

"It still matters to you. You wouldn't be so worked up about it if it didn't," Ghost pointed out knowingly.

"Ghost, with all due respect man, fuck off and stop trying to analyze me," Sparks shot back, not bothering to hide the anger sparking in his blue eyes.

"Fine," Ghost answered simply, tired of people snapping at him for no reason. He walked off towards the nearest elevator without even looking back at his friend.

"Well...where are you going?" Sparks asked, confused.

"To think!" Ghost called back over his shoulder before disappearing behind a corner, leaving Sparks to deal with his rage and embarrassment on his own.

* * *

Her sister Sally had been the one to introduce Vivian to racing when she was fifteen. She had dragged her to a race so that she could watch her current boyfriend, Joseph, participate. Initially, Vivian had refused to go, convinced that she would be either bored out of her mind or completely isolated while her sister ran off and chatted up the entire crowd. While she had developed a close friendship with Joseph ever since Sally had started dating him, he would be racing, leaving her with no one to talk to.

Eventually though, Vivian had caved in. She had never been able to outmatch her sister in the fine art of persuasion, especially when she owed Sally for having covered for her when she had totaled the family car's bumper on the highway by paying for it out of her own pocket. So she went, more out of duty than desire. On the bright side, she never regretted it.

Sure, she detested the obligatory token female role her sister wanted her to play (sitting on the hoods of cars and talking to the macho drivers and their buddies before retreating to the sidelines to cheer for their knight in shining armor). But when Vivian watched in awe as the cars sped off at top speeds, sending dust everywhere and tires screaming, drowning out the rest of the world, she knew she was head over heels in love, and wanted nothing more than to be in one of those cars, flying.

She never even noticed who won that round.

After the race, when the cash prizes had been distributed to the winners and everyone was celebrating with some form of liquor, she pulled Joseph away with Sally in tow.

"I want to race," she declared to them. "Help me get in."

Sally laughed at the suggestion and took another swig of her beer, clearly not taking her sister seriously. "You _can't_ be serious."

"I _am_."

Her sister opened her mouth to say something, but was stopped short by her boyfriend. "How're you going to pay for a car? You can't just race any old thing. It hasta be souped up."

"I'll sell all my stuff. I'll get a job. Whatever it takes! Just help me get started!"

It might have been her tone, or the fact that he knew she had a lot of skill behind the wheel. It might have been that he could tell that she was dead serious, or maybe it was the unquenchable gleam in her eye that wouldn't be satisfied until she was speeding along at 120 kilometers an hour and having everyone else eat her dust. Whatever it was, it worked.

"Okay. You can start out in my car, but you'll need your own soon enough," Joseph offered, smiling at her instant glee. She grinned like a kid in a candy store.

"Really? Joseph, you rock!"

"Yea, yea, yea...I have a feeling I won't regret this. That's the only reason I'm gonna help you. Now the first thing you gotta do is to come up with a name."

"A name? Why?"

"Because. All the drivers race under those names. Safer that way 'cause we won't know who anybody is if the cops come callin' for catchin' us drag racing."

"Oh..."

The next day, Vivian got a job at the warehouse stacking boxes, and started to save every last penny she could. The name, on the other hand, took a little bit more time and thought...

* * *

"When are we going to find you a girlfriend?" Trinity asked Ghost playfully, giving him the once-over. The two were sitting on his bed side by side, having just awoken from his personal training program. Ghost smiled and stared straight ahead assuredly, trying to look completely serious.

"Like Augustine, I'm devoted to a higher purpose," he informed her as-a-matter-of-factly.

"What's that?" Trinity wondered, although she already knew the answer. The conversation was not a new one, just one they liked to have.

"Onanism."

The answer made Trinity chuckle, shaking her head slightly. "Is that why so many saints are blind?"

Ghost finally cocked his head to once side and grinned. "Celibacy is a hands-on job,"

"Mm-hm..." Trinity mused, her expression becoming serious again. "Thank you Ghost," she said, referring back to his offer to let her get some things off her chest. He nodded in return and she rose to leave, ready to track down Neo.

"Trin..."

She stopped in her tracks and looked at Ghost, the serene smile still playing against her face. It disappeared when she saw that Ghost had lost his carefree expression, and it had been replaced with that of melancholy. "What?" she asked, returning to sit at the edge of his bed.

"I need some advice. It's Niobe," he told her.

"Niobe?" Trinity repeated, "What about her?"

"That's the problem. I'm not entirely sure."

In a few brief sentences, Ghost summarized the events that had occurred after the botched meeting in the Matrix that they had both attended. She listened patiently and waited for him to finish, keeping her thoughts to herself until Ghost looked at her expectantly in hopes of some advice.

"Did you talk to her about this?" Trinity asked, naturally choosing the most obvious plan of action. Ghost nodded and sighed.

"She keeps brushing it off. You know how she is."

"How about Lock?"

Ghost nearly laughed at how similar her train of thought was to his own. "Yes, both me and Sparks did. He thinks we're trying to keep the Logos docked because we're too scared to go back to the front."

He stopped there, trying to choose his words carefully before he said anything else.

"She needs someone to talk some sense into her, or shake it into her, to make her get some help. Sparks and we can't do it ourselves. And with Thadeus dead, there's really only one other person who knows her well enough that we haven't tried."

"Morpheus."

Trinity cupped Ghost's cheek and drew him into a sisterly hug. Despite his very reserved nature, he leaned into her without hesitation.

"I'll speak to him as soon as I see him, which will probably be just before the temple gathering tonight. If he does manage to get through to her, I'm sure Neo will check her code. He is the best person to ask for interpreting the Matrix, after all," she offered gently, eventually withdrawing from the embrace. Ghost mumbled a small thank you, secretly sad that the hug had been so brief and yet too scared to hold on any longer. He shoved the thoughts of what could have been aside as quickly as they surfaced, refusing to accept anything but what already existed, there here and now.

"Thanks sis," he said again to her, this time more audibly.

"Anytime, dear brother."

* * *

The intoxicating sound of eternally beating drums reverberated through every inch of the temple, engulfing Niobe's senses. When was the last time she had been here at a time of celebration, when nearly all of the adult population of Zion turned out to dance and shout? As her eyes skimmed the crowd of people that she was in the middle of and she spotted Morpheus, she knew her answer.

Morpheus had always loved to dance. It never ceased to amaze people that didn't know him that a man who normally held himself in such a calm and stoic manner would be such an energetic and lively soul when given the appropriate conditions. Niobe smiled at the images conjured up in her memories of him dancing. She had spent more than one night dancing away with him, among other things.

"He acts like he's in charge," Lock sneered disapprovingly as he stood behind Niobe, his warm hand causing the paled skin of her bare shoulders to tingle from the much-wanted heat, despite the fact that they were standing in an area packed with people and pools of magma.

"But he sure does know how to get a crowd going. He could've told them that we're all going to die in thirty seconds and they'd still be partying," Niobe replied, watching as the crowd below her broke into dance in a series of waves.

"We aren't going to die though. Not if the counterattack is successful."

She turned around in a flash, causing some of the braided strands of her hair to fling into her face. "You've got a plan?"

Lock nodded hesitantly. "Yes. Every ship will use their EMPs to disable the sentinels."

It sounded like the kind of defense strategy that Lock was best known for: brute force in a single deathly pass that surprised the enemy. But something in his tone of voice tipped Niobe off, telling her that he wasn't divulging everything about his plan.

"And...?" she asked.

"That's all," Lock lied. Niobe frowned.

"Jason, what else?" she pressed, not prepared to take that as an answer. Lock realized that he was caught.

"...The plan involves every ship...except the Logos. Its EMP just isn't powerful enough to make an impact."

Niobe stared incredulously at Lock, caught completely off guard. The celebration around her was suddenly forgotten. "Jason, that's bullshit and you know it!"

"It's for the best," he defended, reaching out to caress Niobe's cheek. "You know I would never do anything to hurt you-"

She jerked her face away from Lock's tender touch as if he were an Agent, eyes ablaze with hurt and betrayal. Lock's intentions had no doubt been his idea of innocent chivalry. Depending on the point of view, he was either protecting her from impending danger in the only way he could. On the other hand, he was abusing his powers so that he wouldn't need to worry about her safety.

Niobe chose to assume the latter position. He didn't care about what she wanted, did he? The fact that he hadn't even asked her what she wanted was what angered her the most.

"I can't believe this. You're putting yourself in front of this entire city!" she fumed.

"No! I'm putting you first! You're important to me! I love you!" he fought back.

"That doesn't make it right! Change the order! If everyone else has to go on a suicide mission, then I sure as hell want to be with them, not sitting in Zion twiddling my thumbs!"

"I can't change the order. The Council's adjourned until the strike briefing…"

Niobe didn't even let him finish. She growled under her breath and stalked away, letting him know what her reply was.

Enraged, Niobe retreated to a somewhat more secluded corner away from the warm lights and watched the crowds party on, oblivious to what had just transpired between her and Lock. She spotted Morpheus talking to Captain Soren a few paces away, and regarded him from the corner of her eye.

He was wearing a sleeveless red robe, the colour matching that of her own red dress to indicate their ranks, loose-fitting pants, and no shirt. She surmised that this had probably been a conscious move on his part, since exposing his bare chest, implants and all, added to the credibility of his claim that he was not afraid of the machines. All in all, he looked regal, to say the least.

_The colour red suits him_, she mused, admiring the way in which the robe seemed to flow off his skin like a stream of constant rainwater-

No. It reminded her more of blood. Crimson-red blood, so sweet and potent that she could practically smell it in his veins amidst the scents of the earth beneath her, of the lava, and of sweat...the very thought of sampling some of that coppery liquid was enough to make her mouth water, bringing her back to the scene in her room a few hours prior, where she had been unable to stop herself from tasting her own blood...

_Stop!_ She ordered herself furiously, still confused as to where the morbid thoughts were coming from. First the cut in her room, and now this...lusting? _I must be really tired. I should probably just leave now and get some rest. Forget seeing Jason. I'm too pissed off to talk to him right now,_ Niobe decided.

She had practically resolved to call it a night and retreat to the safety of her quarters when Morpheus decided to walk up to her, having probably noticed that she was staring at him.

"Is there something you wanted to say to me, Captain?" Morpheus asked, his Cheshire Cat smile pointing out that he was merely trying to irk her. Niobe quickly retook control of her situation and thoughts and returned Morpheus' smile with a playful grin of her own.

"No, not really," she answered coolly, taking a step towards the Captain of the Neb. "I was just remembering how you used to dance. You were pretty good."

"Really? Would you care to refresh your memory?" he offered gently, presenting her with his open hand.

The chance to dance again was a powerful one. Jason hated dancing and glared at anyone who did ask her to join them, leaving Niobe often enough without a partner and little reason to indulge herself. Without even wanting to, she noticed that Lock was indeed still around, hovering in the background behind some people, watching. He looked like he was ready to tear Morpheus limb from limb for merely talking to her. Her anger about Lock's actions came rushing back to her, making her decision final.

_What the hell. I want to dance, and if he gets all worked up about it, then good. He should!_

She took Morpheus' hand eagerly, allowing him to lead her downwards towards the crowds of people where they would be smack in the middle of things. Once they found an appropriate spot, Morpheus just let the beat dictate his dance movements, and Niobe followed.

It was almost surreal at first, like she had warped back to a time when they had been together. They followed the steps of a familiar dance as one, stomping their feet into the earth underneath them as Morpheus slowly lifted his arms towards the hidden sky, closing his eyes and smiling. And all around, the drums continued to beat and everyone continued to dance, as if they were all invoking long-dead gods in a wild frenzy to come to their aid.

Niobe found herself wrapping an arm leisurely around Morpheus' neck, pressing their swaying bodies together enticingly with the beat, and gazed at his elegant neck, where the skin was so smooth and dark. She had once kissed that skin with burning lips, had nipped it, marked it. Now, all of a sudden she wanted to do it again, not for love or lust, but to taste the crimson liquid flowing just beneath the surface. All thoughts of Lock were forgotten in the moment.

Somehow, they had danced their way into a darker corner and away from prying eyes, but Morpheus hadn't seemed to notice and Niobe didn't really care. She wasn't really focusing on the people around her, only on him, or more specifically, his neck, and the inviting warmth of his body. The steady beat of percussion instruments and people at various stages of making love were simply providing a highly coercive backdrop.

Now Morpheus took the liberty of snaking his own arms around her waist, closing whatever was left of the gap between them. Niobe could feel his brown eyes searing into hers, and she closed her own so she wouldn't have to deal with them. If she did, then she would start to think about why she was no longer with Morpheus, and why he still managed to make her senses burn when Lock was supposed to be the only one who could do that. Some part of her mind protested against her infidelity, but it was quickly overwritten by everything else. Had they been in the Matrix and someone had been reading her code, they would've seen not only how her body was starting to demand more of her, but how something was rising towards her brain and changing all the code in its wake, something that wasn't part of normal human responses.

"Niobe..." Morpheus whispered, his face dangerously close to hers. She wondered if he was trying to snap her out of it or if he too was longing for something they had shared but lost years ago. Her face had now finally met up with his shoulder, and her cheek grazed against it, awakening something inside her that she had never known existed.

_I just need a taste, that's all..._

She opened her mouth and pressed it to his neck without even thinking, and then sank her canines into it, breaking the skin.

"Niobe!"

A sharp pain in her back brought her back to her senses. She stared at Morpheus, realizing that he had forcibly pinned her against the wall of the temple by her shoulders. The glint in his eyes had been replaced by complete seriousness as he stood at arm's length. At first, she didn't understand where his change of heart had come from, but then her saw the telltale red of blood on his neck, dripping from the beginnings of a bitemark. He had pushed her away just in time. Shocked, she brought her own fingers to her lips, probing her gums.

Her upper canines were twice as long as before, and as sharp as razorblades. Horrified, she found herself completely immobilized. Had she just _bitten_ Morpheus?

"_Now_ will you get stop denying what's happened to you and get help?" he asked her seriously, as the crowds around them continued to dance the night away, completely oblivious. The words stung her hard; he had been playing her like a harp in order to confront her!

Unfortunately, she couldn't deny it any further as the events from the Chateau and afterwards came flooding back. The bite from the man in the Chateau, her light sensitivity, the blood fixation, the depressing thoughts about Thadeus, her anger towards Lock, all came together in a way that made some kind of twisted sense and were sealed by the nearly vampiric kiss she had bestowed on Morpheus.

Reluctantly, she nodded, deciding that this was not who she wanted to be, and grew determined to be rid of it at all costs.

* * *

Random Author Note: Lock's actions in ETM footage (Keeping the Logos from being put in the retaliation fleet which could save Zion) reminded me of Neo's in Reloaded (Choosing to save Trinity instead of...well, saving Zion the traditional way) gave me a new perspective on his character. One is shown to us as wrong, the other as right. So was Lock right, or was Neo wrong?

Last edited: November 2, 2003.


	3. Fortune Cookie

**Disclaimer**: The Matrix and all its appendages are the brainchildren of Larry and Andy Wachowski and are carefully guarded by Warner Brothers. _Enter the Matrix_ was developed by Shiny Entertainment and produced by Infogames. This is purely a piece of nonprofit entertainment. _Cursum Perficio _is the title of a song on Enya's _Watermark_ CD. References to Final Fantasy and Stargate are intentional and certainly not of my making.

**Chapter Three: Fortune Cookie**

She awoke to the strange and new sensations of lying in someone's arms. Disoriented and slightly hungover, she did a mental check of her surroundings.

The room (and the bed) was completely unfamiliar to her, at least from her vantage point where she was nestled on the bed with somebody. A faint amount of light was emanating from somewhere behind her - she couldn't see because she didn't want to move - and when she raised her head to see who she was with, it started to come back with amazing clarity.

She was with Morpheus.

She recalled joining him and her fellow trainees in an impromptu celebration in a section of the Temple. They had all just completed their mandatory training, and were going to be assigned to posts in Zion and on its modest fleet of hovercrafts. Considering that they had spent the last year doing nothing but training, everyone had decided that a party was in order.

Everyone had been so happy to be finished, Thaddeus most of all. Not only was he thrilled with his performance in training, but he was even more elated with the fact that Jue, the girl with cat-like reflexes that he had been eyeing all year, had taken a liking to him. The fact that they were about to join the ranks of Zion's army, and had little chance of living to seventy-five as a result, seemed to be a world away, stuffed into the Matrix, or at least set aside for tomorrow.

About halfway into the night, after downing several of Zion's equivalent for beers (some sort of liquor derived from mushrooms, like almost every other foodstuff was), Niobe had reluctantly joined Morpheus for a dance. Everything after that was a bit of a blur, but she could fill in the details easily enough.

"Hey."

Niobe turned over sleepily, and ended up face to face with Morpheus, their heads only a few inches apart.

"Hey," she answered back, unsure of what to do next. It felt like it had been a lifetime since she had last woken up like this, and it made her nervous. Was she uncomfortable with him, or with that?

"Niobe..." he trailed off as he tried to think of the right words to use, "I want to explore this."

She fell silent at the offer, judging what her own feelings were telling her. The truth was, she had never felt any reservations when she was with him. Even when he had simply been just a friend with whom she joked about nonsensical things, or a tutor who spurred her and the others to push themselves farther than they thought they could go, she had never felt uncomfortable in his presence. Her attraction to him had never dissipated either.

Who the hell was she kidding? She'd have to be crazy not to at least give this a try. It felt right.

She frowned as Morpheus' face darkened due to her lack of a response, taking it as a sign that she wasn't happy with how things had turned out. With the atmosphere between them becoming more somber by the second, she sighed and leaned closer to him, whispering her thoughts into his ear.

"You do realize how many jokes people are going to make because of our height difference?"

Her efforts were rewarded with a deep baritone rumbling as Morpheus tried unsuccessfully not to laugh. Soon they were both laughing uncontrollably, at least until Niobe stopped them both by capturing Morpheus' lips in a deep kiss.

In hindsight, it was a bittersweet memory.

* * *

Three moderately loud raps on her door partially roused Trinity from her sleep. She drifted in and out of the real and dream world, and instinctively rolled over so she could be closer to Neo's sleeping form.

He wasn't there.

Again, another three knocks came from outside. This time, she woke up and rolled out of bed, snatching a discarded robe from a chair to conceal her naked body in case it wasn't Neo at the door, knocking because he had locked himself out again. _Definitely a good idea_, she decided as she opened the door and saw Morpheus on the other side.

"Morpheus," she addressed in her usual officer-like fashion despite her present attire. Spying Niobe behind her captain, she nodded gravely, recalling her conversations with Ghost and her mentor.

"I truly am sorry to disturb you two at such a late hour, but this cannot wait. The Oracle may summon Neo at any time, and if we must leave to speak with her, then there may be no one to interpret Niobe's code well enough to help her," Morpheus explained apologetically to Trinity.

"It's okay. I understand," Trinity replied softly, "but he's not here."

"Where is he?" Morpheus asked, clearly confused by this information. Niobe remained expressionless, unfazed.

"I don't know," Trinity answered, the darkness disguising her slight feeling of unease. She didn't know where Neo was, but she certainly knew why he had left. _He must've had another nightmare..._

"We'll return as soon as he comes back. Where will you be?" Morpheus asked.

Luckily for him, especially when he hadn't fully considered the possibility that Neo would not be available, nor prepared for the prospect of being alone with Niobe for the remainder of the night, he didn't have to worry. The sound of footsteps alerted the trio to someone approaching from the elevator shafts, the someone being Neo.

"What's going on?" he asked, still bleary-eyed from the lack of sleep, but very much awake and concerned. Trinity regarded him worriedly, but chose to try and talk to him about his insomnia at a more appropriate time. Morpheus stepped towards him to explain, but Niobe grabbed his arm and pulled him back, taking charge for herself. "I need you to look at my code and tell me what's wrong with it," she explained.

"Well, sure, if you want," Neo answered uneasily, "but how do you know something's wrong with it?"

Niobe opened her mouth and exposed her teeth for Neo, showing him her protruding upper canines, which had grown much longer and slender since he had last seen the rebel captain. Neo leaned in closer and blinked several times to be sure that his eyes were not deceiving him.

"Now there's something you don't see every day."

* * *

Neo and Niobe settled themselves into tow loading chairs connected to one of Control's training constructs for new recruits. The late hour had not posed a problem for them, at least not for the one, the legendary Morpheus, and Commander Lock's significant other. The guard on duty had been more than happy to let them in.

"Are you sure you don't want us to bring Ghost and Sparks here?" Trinity offered. Niobe shook her head.

"No, let them sleep. Besides, I'm still pissed with them for telling you two. They should've kept their mouths shut."

Morpheus picked up the metal spike behind Niobe's chair and gently inserted it into her skull. I for one am happy that they did," he told her as he pressed the loading button on her monitor, loading her consciousness into the construct program. He hovered over her just long enough to watch her eyes close and then joined Trinity at the operating station. His first officer entered the necessary commands to load Neo and Niobe into a basic construct, and shut off the screens.

"I don't think she'll want us watching," Trinity said to Morpheus in explanation, nothing the dismayed look on his face.

"...Of course," he answered quietly after some hesitation, recomposing himself. Trinity continued to watch him as he took a sear near the station, still gazing at Niobe's seemingly sleeping form in a mesmerized fashion.

"Do you believe Neo will be able to help her?" Trinity pressed, trying to distract her superior officer from worrying needlessly.

"I hope so..."

The hacker narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing Morpheus' uncharacteristic show of fear and wavering faith over Neo's abilities. She had seen this look before, and knew all too well what it meant. How could she not? The look on his face was unmistakable.

"Oh no, Morpheus."

"What?"

"You're still in love with her."

She watched as his expression tensed, the lines in his once youthful face deepen as he furrowed his brow. It surprised her that she noticed for the first time how tired Morpheus looked, as if the years of fighting an endless war alone had suddenly eaten away at his spirit.

"Yes. I am," he admitted, "but my feelings do not matter. I would do this for anyone, not just her."

"You don't think telling her is important? I've seen the way she looks at you. It's like nothing has changed in the past four years. If there's a chance she still loves you, why you don't take it?" Trinity persisted, still perplexed.

"There isn't any chance of that," Morpheus asserted, "and she's with someone else that makes her happy. That is enough for me. I am not about to disturb that, at least not now. There are more important things to be concerned about right now. The war. The prophecy."

He finally turned to face his protégé, expecting a challenging glare to his statement. Instead, her face was serene, as if what he had said had caused her to reminisce about something close to her own heart.

"Sometimes all those things are intertwined, and ignoring them can be the mistake of your life. You taught me that Morpheus," she said thoughtfully as she looked at Neo.

* * *

Niobe blinked several times in an attempt to clear her vision after being loaded into the Construct, but to no avail. Even with her default RSI of her usual Matrix-gear and sunglasses, she couldn't stand to keep her eyes open more than a sliver.

"Jesus, it's bright!" she swore, squeezing her eyes tightly shut to stop the burning sensation. She could still sense the brightness even then!

"Sorry," Neo's disembodied voice apologized from somewhere in front of her. A few seconds later, she felt the brightness recede, and opened one eye testingly, blinking several times to gauge the intensity of the Construct's revised lighting. The hot white light that normally filled the entire program space had been reduced to a faint glow that provided just enough illumination for her to make out Neo's RSI, clad in his usual woolen trenchcoat. Finding herself experiencing no immediate discomfort to the new settings, she opened both eyes completely and relaxed.

"Any better?" Neo asked. Niobe nodded.

"Yea, thanks. Can you still see me, though?"

While she couldn't clearly make out Neo, she could've sworn that he smiled faintly at her question. "Darkness, light...it's all code to me," he pointed out.

"Right. Sorry."

"Just...stand still for a few minutes."

"'Kay."

For several minutes, Niobe simply scrutinized her (or, rather, her code), barely blinking an eye. It made her feel extremely uncomfortable despite her best efforts to shrug it off. She felt like a very patient hawk was watching her.

"...And?" she eventually pressed.

"Well...something about your code has drastically changed since I last saw you. It looks like some kind of computer virus that's spreading from a point of origin - your neck," Neo told her, apparently still mentally sifting through it.

"Can you fix it?"

He shrugged nervously and stretched out an open hand towards the bitemark on her neck, closing his eyes in the process. Niobe felt absolutely ridiculous. Their situation was playing out like a bad Christian conversion movie, with her playing Saul and Neo playing the Savior. She started to wonder why she had let Morpheus talk her into this. Neo wasn't some superhuman. She didn't believe that any more than she believed the legends about the One. Sure, his abilities were uncanningly superior to even the most seasoned rebels, but that didn't make him Jesus.

"Look, forget I asked," she started, deciding that this wasn't working. She absently rubbed her eyes underneath her sunglasses, feeling like she was going to get a headache at this rate. Oddly enough, Neo didn't seem disheartened by her reaction.

"I made the lights brighter," he told her lightly.

"What?" she asked, actually taking a moment to judge the brightness for herself. It did feel brighter, but her eyes weren't burning anymore.

"My eyes don't hurt anymore...but I honestly don't feel any different other than that," Niobe confessed. Neo nodded, his tone becoming serious again.

"I don't think there was ever something physically wrong with you. Your mind just thought there was. I think the virus transmits false information to your mind to influence it. I think I have it blocked. You should be okay, at least for a while."

"You mean this is only temporary," she said for him.

"To be honest Niobe, in some places I don't really know where the virus ends and you begin. Some of the things it does are obvious, like how it was telling your brain to react to light. But a lot of it is subtler than that, and I just don't _know_ you well enough. I don't think I want to try going beyond this. I would wind up hurting you. Hell, I think I could give you brain damage."

"So...now what? Am I going to start changing again, or am I just stuck like this?"

"I don't know. But there is someone who might."

Niobe frowned at the suggestion. "You aren't serious, are you?"

"I really don't know any more than you do, Captain. I'm not Superman. But I do know that she knows a lot more than me," Neo explained.

She shook her head, feeling like she was being pulled into a huge Fun House, crazy mirrors and all. "Wonderful. You're saying my best hope is a grandma who talks like a fortune cookie."

"Are you going to see her?" Neo asked as a telephone on an antique table materialized a few feet away from them and began to ring.

As she went for the phone and picked it up, Niobe stopped to answer, but changed her mind pressed the receiver to her ear and jacked out.

She did not believe in the Oracle's overblown portents.

But she knew firsthand that she was capable of seeing through you as if you were made of glass.

* * *

The Oracle was reading a book on her sofa when Niobe first met her, years after she had been unplugged. She smiled lovingly at the young woman, clearly quite pleased that she had arrived, and nodded to the priestess who had shown her in. The priestess inclined her head and quietly padded out of the room, her robes swishing along behind her.

"I had a feeling I'd be seeing you. You want to know what I told him," the Oracle noted, placing her book face down on the table in front of her.

"No, I want to know what you did to change him, and why," Niobe replied sourly.

"I did nothing." Through the window, Niobe could see the branches of a tree swaying in the wind, its leaves creating misty shadows inside the parlour room. She chose to focus on them, knowing that she'd blow up if she had to look directly at this woman any longer. She refused to let herself be fooled by the seemingly benign appearance the Oracle and her home had. There was nothing benign about her, and Niobe would not be lulled into a false sense of comfort.

"Don't give me that!" Niobe snapped back, "Morpheus spent less than ten minutes in here with you. He came in thinking this was all a joke, and he left as your apostle!"

The Oracle regarded Niobe sternly, the shadow of the tree outside playing over her face and all around her. "Niobe, nobody can make someone change like that in the blink of an eye. You believe that just as much as I do."

"What are you saying? That you told him something that made him realize that he's been changing for a long time now?"

"That's you talking, not me. It could be true, but you don't want to think that, because that would mean you never knew Morpheus as well as you thought you did. Or worse, it would mean that you refused to recognize that he was changing."

She paused here, following Niobe's fleeting gaze to the window, and the tree outside.

"Truth is, nobody can make your choices for you except yourself. I can't force you to do anything no more than I can stop you from not looking me in the eye. I just help people understand who they are."

"Why?"

"It's what I do. It's who I am."

Niobe snorted. "Whatever you say, Delphia."

The aging woman smiled. "Someone told you about the sign I have in my kitchen. I guess you must remember quite a bit of Greek and Roman mythology from school."

"I remember a little," Niobe replied offhandedly.

Leaning forwards towards the table, the Oracle slid the book she had been reading towards Niobe. It was still face down and open from when the young woman had come in. There was no title. Still glaring at the Oracle with hawk-like eyes, the future captain picked it up and looked at the pages.

**_With deadly arrows, Apollo slays the seven sons and Diana the seven daughters, even though the now humbled Niobe pleads for the life of her smallest daughter. Weeping, the once obdurate Niobe turns to stone - a transformation appropriate to her "hard" line. Even today, tears trickle from the stone._**

"You're a proud woman Niobe, just like your namesake. But unlike her, I don't think it's in your nature to beg for mercy. Which leaves one question: why are you here? Are you begging for me to give Morpheus you knew back to you?"

"No," she answered harshly.

"Then why are you here? Did you expect to hear some fortune telling? I suppose it's only fair if I give you some then," the Oracle huffed. She stood up slowly, gingerly pressing a hand into her back as she walked up to Niobe and looked her in the eye, scrutinizing her.

"The planet weaves a cruel fate for all of us, Niobe. You will either turn to stone from your losses, like the Niobe of legend, or you will change how her story ends. Which path you take is completely up to you."

* * *

"What the hell do you mean you're going with Morpheus?" Lock yelled. Shortly after asking permission from Councilor Hamann to disembark, Niobe had reluctantly gone to Lock's office to inform him that she would be going with them. He had been angry enough to hear that the Councilor was going over his head to let the Nebuchadnezzar leave. Niobe's unexpected announcement threw him completely off the wall.

"Have you not been listening to me? I need to find out what's happening to me!" she answered vehemently, squaring off with him across the table.

"What, this bullshit about your code being fucked up? I don't believe it for a second, and I can't understand why you do!" Lock pressed his fingers to his forehead and tried to calm down.

"Look," he said slowly, trying to control his temper, "I know that you've been under a lot of stress. You lost your best friend. You had to organize the entire recall. You barely escaped to Zion with your life. You're stressed out, and I'm sorry I haven't been as supportive as you'd like, but this is all just ridiculous. You're not turning into a vampire. The Matrix isn't real, vampires aren't real, and even if there were vampires in the Matrix, their bites aren't fucking real either! And the Oracle can't help you! You of all people know that! You've never trusted her, and I don't understand why you do now all of a sudden!"

Niobe walked around Lock's desk and purposely bared her teeth, partly because she was angry and partly to give him a chance to see her extended canines up close.

"Normally, I would agree a hundred percent with you Jason. But there are some things that I can't explain, and you're looking at one of them. End of story."

He shook his head disbelievingly. "There has got to be a more reasonable explanation to all of this."

"I'm sure there is. I'm just not going to find it if I sit around and do nothing. If there's any answers, I think they're going to be in the Matrix."

"Fine," Lock spat, "Go. Go and put all your faith in a walking, talking horoscope and her motley crew of worshipers. But don't come running back to me if it doesn't work out!"

"Trust me. I wouldn't even dream of it," Niobe sneered in return, storming out of the office and slamming the door behind her. He stared blankly at the door for a few seconds before sitting back down and putting his head in his hands, realizing that this may have been the argument that split them up for good.

* * *

Four figures emerged from one of Zion's elevators into the docking bay in the early hours of the morning. Neo and Trinity walked side by side, Neo still clutching the bent spoon Kid had given him in one hand and grazing Trinity's palm with the other. Link trailed behind them, still reluctant to leave, but intent on doing so anyways. Niobe kept her distance from them, walking on the opposite side of Morpheus, her face sallow but hardened. At the centre of the team was Morpheus, holding the three otherwise separate subgroups together like glue as he strode confidently to the Nebuchadnezzar, now fully charged and ready for action.

And waiting for them at the doors of the Neb were none other than Ghost and Sparks, one perched on a nearby box and the other pacing back and forth across the area. When they noticed the group's arrival, both stood to attention.

"What are you doing here?" Niobe asked, raising an eyebrow. When Ghost and Sparks appeared to be in relative agreement with one another, she got concerned. The last time it had happened, it was because they had tinkered with one of the engine fuses of the Logos and had altered its balance axis. Niobe had been able to detect the change after an hour of piloting, and had rewarded them with a short tirade. The lesson: No one touched the Logos' engines without her permission. If they did, and they screwed it up, there would be hell to pay.

"What? We're not allowed to see you off? I mean, we just wanted to make sure you were going, because, you know, it would probably help, not that you have to go or anything...Aah! Ghost, you try," Sparks complained in a huff.

"I think what Sparks is trying to say is that we were hoping you were going to start taking care of yourself," Ghost offered eloquently, grinning at his crewmate's inability to string a coherent sentence for a change. Niobe raised her eyebrows at them and frowned.

"You're both still in deep shit for mouthing off about me," she warned.

"Hey, I'm no fan of wading through shit, Captain. But I'll take a live Captain over a dead one, thank you very much. Makes my chances of survival higher," Sparks said, shrugging. Link raised his eyebrows at Sparks' snarky comments and eyed Morpheus.

"I'm going to go ready the ship," he announced to him, striding up the ramp into the Neb, nodding to Sparks and Ghost as he passed. "Ghost, Sparks, take care."

"Yea sure you betcha!" Sparks answered gleefully, waving to Link as he disappeared into the ship. Ghost inclined his head slightly as a farewell.

Niobe stepped up the ramp towards Ghost to say her farewells.

"How did Commander Lock take all of this?" Ghost asked her quietly. He couldn't have been too enthusiastic about her going with Morpheus.

"The same way he takes everything he doesn't like," the ship captain answered matter-of-factly.

"Are you okay with that?"

"Not really, but there's nothing I can do about it. Take care of my ship," she ordered, changing the subject.

"Of course," Ghost said, nodding as Sparks did a mock salute.

"We promise not to screw with the engines this time!" the operator added. The ship came to life a few seconds later. Niobe smiled at her crew and continued her way into the now powered-up ship with Morpheus. While Sparks retreated to a safe distance from the ship, Ghost stayed to stay goodbye to his sister.

"Take care of yourself Ghost," Trinity said warmly as she hugged him.

"I will. Godspeed," he answered as he let her go. When she was out of earshot, he caught Neo's eye. "Take care of her. She doesn't tend to do that herself."

"I will," Neo assured Ghost, shaking his hand, "I promise." Feeling that he was hanging around a bit too long to be considered appropriate, Ghost backed away from the Nebuchadnezzar as its hatch closed and it rose into the air in a haze of electrostatic. After it reached a proper altitude, it sped along to the nearest gate. Ghost and Sparks stayed to watch it leave.

"Oh, they're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz..."

"Shut up, Sparks."

* * *

It was noon on a weekday and Chinatown was practically buzzing with activity. Vendors hawked their imported wares to tourists and locals alike, all hoping to come away with a great deal or something quick and tasty to eat. The sound of dozens of Asian languages mixed with English filled the air, practically drowning out everything else, from radios to bells on bikes that were navigating the crowd.

Like two shadows, Neo and Niobe wove through the crowd. People got out of the way without consciously realizing that they were doing it, a skill that all rebels had honed by their first mission inside the Matrix. They walked unopposed towards a secluded teahouse on Wu Ping Avenue and entered it without speaking a word.

Inside, Seraph, a man of deceivingly serene and unthreatening demure, sat cross-legged on a table sipping his tea. He glanced up at the newcomers and rose to his feet, stepping off the table as he set down his cup.

"I bid you welcome," Seraph said, bowing slightly to the new arrivals.

"And you are?" Niobe asked suspiciously.

"I am Seraph. I am the guardian of the Oracle," he answered simply.

"The Oracle's guardian? Why haven't we ever met you before?" Neo wondered aloud. Niobe concurred; she knew she had never encountered him. Judging from Neo's reaction, as someone who had probably listened to many a tale about the Oracle from Morpheus, this was new to him as well.

"On the contrary, I believe both of you have," Seraph remarked cryptically. He tapped his sunglasses lightly on the bridge of his nose and smiled.

Confused, Niobe thought back to her previous visit in an attempt to bring up an image of Seraph, but her efforts were fruitless. Neo's on the other hand, appeared to come up with something tangible.

"You were the old man in front of the elevator," said Neo, the realization dawning upon him.

_Huh?_ Niobe did remember seeing an old man with a cane by the elevator at the Oracle's apartment. His hair and beard had been growing white as snow and he had been wearing a dark ratty trenchcoat and -

- And the same pair of sunglasses that Seraph was wearing.

"For a long time, I have not needed a shell such as this one. Now I must be this way. Things are changing," he explained.

"What for?" Niobe questioned. Something wasn't right. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on their ends, and there was a strange scent in the air, one that was putting her on edge.

Seraph raised his hands and bowed respectfully to Niobe and Neo. "I must apologize. I need this form for this."

She placed the scent half a second before Seraph leaped into the air like a cat. It smelled like a fight!

Both Neo and Niobe snapped into a defensive stance as Seraph somehow managed to assault them both. Neo recovered more quickly than Niobe due to his enhanced abilities, and started to effortlessly come back at Seraph, forcing the guardian to focus all of his attention on him. Niobe took the opportunity to back off a few paces, leaping backwards over a table to set herself up as support if Neo needed it, although she seriously doubted that he would. For the next few seconds, they appeared to be an even match. For every hit that Seraph managed to land, Neo got one in as well. Their spar was sending chopsticks and tableware flying as they knocked chairs and tables out of their way, or used them as high ground.

Neo aimed a high kick at Seraph's head, and the mysterious character ducked to evade, crouching into a squat. The next thing Niobe knew, Seraph had soared into the air high above Neo in a form akin to the one Morpheus favored, and was heading straight for her. She skirted backwards to give herself some more breathing room, but realized all too late that she had just cornered herself against a wall, and Seraph had already closed the space between them.

She managed to block most of his moves, but he tripped her with a sharp kick to her ankle. Before she could even start to focus on what she was doing to the point where she could tap into her enhanced powers, she used her sudden change in momentum to dive into a cartwheel, sidestepping Seraph in the process. When she got back on her feet, she went at him with full force.

Niobe had never been the greatest hand-to-hand fighter. Speed and fast reflexes had always been her strength. She could most certainly hold her own against almost any kind of law-enforcement that Agents could throw at her, but she had nowhere near the same level of proficiency that more seasoned rebels such as Roland and Morpheus did. But this time was different. She felt like she could beat even them into a pulp if she tried. She was even faster than before, and needed to focus less to make her hits count.

Seraph seized one of her wrists and twisted it fiercely. She feigned a high kick but couldn't connect as he started to flip her over. Niobe allowed herself to be flipped and rolled over his arm as if she were swinging around a bar with one hand, and landed back on her feet in time for Seraph to punch her in the stomach and send her flying backwards. To her surprise (as well as everyone else's), she landed crouched on her feet on the wall, which shook ominously with the force of the impact before she launched herself back towards Seraph, who was at the other end of the building. As she stood poised to retaliate, Seraph raised his hands in surrender.

"Enough! I believe I have answered your question to your satisfaction," the guardian declared before continuing, "Again, I apologize for the deception, but I had to be sure of who you are, and you do not truly know someone until you fight them."

"Oh...kay..." replied Neo in a slightly confused fashion. Niobe stared dumbfoundedly at her former opponent, unsure of how to take all of this.

"Please, come with me," Seraph said to Neo, heading for the door as he withdrew an old key from his sleeve. Confused but prepared to go along with it, Neo exchanged looks with Niobe before following suit.

"Hey! What about me?" Niobe demanded hotly, lifting her arms up in the air with exasperation.

"The Oracle asked that I only being Neo. I will escort her to you with they are finished," Seraph explained. He turned away from the rebels to unlock and open the door, which now revealed a barren white hallway instead of the bustling streets of Chinatown. Niobe recognized the hallway immediately. It was the one the Keymaker had led her and Ghost into when they had been ambushed in the sewers!

Neo walked into the strange hallway, looking around the new area with immense interest. Seraph took up the rear and reached for the door.

"Please make yourself comfortable. Help yourself to some tea," he advised Niobe brightly before shutting the door. It locked with an audible click and Niobe didn't bother to try and follow. She already knew that the door had been reset to exit to its usual location. Instead, she sighed, sat down at the nearest undisturbed table, and waited for Link to call and demand an explanation as to where Neo and Seraph had gone. All she knew was that her gut was telling her that this wasn't going anywhere good.

* * *

She recalled the most botched-up mission she had ever had the displeasure of participating in that had taken place inside the Matrix. Her captain had sent her inside to make contact with Captain Tiresias, who had sent a distress message through the fleet's drop point system. It was supposed to be a simple job - jack in, find out what was keeping Tiresias, and jack out.

Niobe chose the university campus to be her contact point. There were hundreds of phone lines, both public and private, and it would be nearly impossible for anyone to trace her accurately. After requesting a change of outfit to something more appropriate for a university student to wear, her commanding officer jacked her into the Matrix.

"Be careful Niobe," he cautioned before hitting the execute command.

"I will, I will. You worry too much," she responded as she slipped her sunglasses on while stuffing a pair of knives into a holster under her pants. The only downside of going incognito was that she wouldn't have any guns on hand if something went wrong.

_But nothing's going to go wrong,_ she assured herself confidently.

Niobe had no problem getting on the campus unnoticed, and was able to get into the library and locate a set of phone in a secluded location with just as much ease.

She inserted a quarter into the nearest one and dialed the phone number hacked to broadcast to Tiresias' ship. It rang several times before the answering machine picked up.

"This is the Center for Ancient Studies. Unfortunately, no one is here to take your call. Please leave your name, number, and a brief message, and we'll get back to you."

"Damn it Tiresias, where _are_ you?" Niobe whispered to herself before clearing her throat and leaving a coded message.

"I am calling to confirm that your presentation concerning Homer's _Odyssey_ is-"

There was an audible click as the recording device was cut off and someone came on the line. "This is Tiresias. Who is this?"

Niobe sighed a breath of relief. "It's Niobe. We got your distress call. What's going on?"

"Distress call? What distress call?" Tiresias echoed, sounding ridiculously confused. Niobe felt her blood turn ice cold. This was bad.

"We picked up a package through the drop point yesterday. The details said that your ship's engines had died and you needed to make contact to arrange a meet with another ship," Niobe told him.

"Our engines are fine, Niobe..." This was bad._Very_ bad.

The payphone next to the one Niobe was using started to ring, causing a few people in the library to lift their heads in curiosity. Niobe stared at it, her heart rate already quickening.

"I've gotta go," she breathed, replacing the phone on its receiver. She grabbed the other one in mid-ring while checking her surroundings. There were no hostiles in sight, but there were certainly plenty of places to hide in a library. Deciding that she couldn't draw any more attention to herself, she pressed the receiver to her ear.

"What?!" she whispered furiously, "I have a cell phone you know! One that _vibrates_!"

"They've jammed the mobile phone system! This was the only way I could get a hold of you!" the captain declared in an equally angry tone. He didn't allow Niobe any further chance to interrupt him. "The nearest hardline's been cut. Take the south exit and head for the subway. Take the green line to Berry and use the hardline in the closed convenience store. And hurry! They're converging on your position! Please, for God's sakes, get out of there _now_!"

"Okay! I'm going! Thanks Jason," she said quickly as the call ended. She dropped the phone and it dangled on its cord while the dial tone sounded, slipping towards the southern exit as instructed.

She tried her best to look inconspicuous as she exited the building and headed for the crosswalk. Jason's instructions were proving to be accurate so far, although she suspected that someone - or something - had overtaken the library from every other access point and was scrutinizing her abandoned phone right now. While she waited at the curb for the light to turn green, her heart stopped.

It was an Agent, accompanied by several police officers. And they were headed towards her, although it didn't look like they'd spotted her just yet.

_Just stay calm, Niobe. Just keep your cool_, she thought, forcing herself to wrench her eyes away from them and stare straight ahead at the road. The light turned green, and she walked casually across, mustering as much willpower as she could to stop herself from kicking into a sprint. Unfortunately, by the time she crossed the road, she realized that playing pretend wasn't going to help her anymore. She had been spotted, and they were briskly walking towards her.

Frantic, she looked around for another escape route. The main subway station was two more blocks down, at least to the best of her knowledge. A quick scan of the vicinity proved to be a saving grace; the bank just a few meters away had a subway sign underneath its logo, indicating that its lower levels connected to a station. She dashed for the door without hesitation, and took the nearest escalator down, skipping the steps as she went. Once she hit the lower floor, she took off running. Her only chance was to outrun the Agent, lose him in the station, and hope that she did not appear odd to any bystanders. If she did, then the Agent would reappear, and she would be screwed.

The tunnel connecting the bank and the subway was a barren stone hall, with small metal doors leading off to back rooms and parking lots. Above her, Niobe noticed cameras logging her presence as she sped past them. As she turned a corner, she saw the Agent running after her in the corner of her eye.

_Run faster!_ She commanded herself, pumping her legs harder and pouring all of her mental energies into increasing her velocity. The entrance to the station was only a couple of meters away, and it looked like no one was attending the turnstiles. Niobe jumped over them and dashed down a staircase to the platform whose train was going in the direction she needed to go. She ducked into a small depression in the wall near the end of the platform and tried her best to catch her breath.

Niobe shuddered as she watched the Agent enter the station on the walkways above her, jump over the turnstiles, and slowly start to determine where she had gone. Watching him cautiously look around was enough to drive her crazy, especially since he seemed to get closer and closer to her by the second.

Her heart rate skyrocketed as he strolled down onto the opposite platform, scrutinizing every passenger on both his side and hers as he navigated his way down towards the opposite end. He would spot in mere seconds if something didn't happen.

As she started to panic (for the second time today), she heard the sound of an oncoming train approaching the opposite platform, and realized that this was going to be her only opening for escape. It screeched to a halt, obstructing the Agent's view of her side, and she took the few precious seconds of cover to decide what she was going to do. Glancing down the open and dark tunnel leading to the station she needed to get to, Niobe decided she was going to try and make a run for it and beat the next train. After slowly walking towards the barrier blocking the walkway, she looked back at the rest of the people on the platform to ensure that they weren't paying attention, and got around it, breaking into another sprint after she was a few paces away.

Niobe had no idea how long it would take until a train would overtake her, but she did know that when it did, it was going to be a very tight squeeze. Ignoring this very possible eventuality, she pumped her legs as hard and fast as they would go, but she knew that her pace was starting to lag. She'd been tapping into her mental resources for nearly ten minutes straight now, and she hadn't paced herself at all in hopes of outrunning her assailants. If she didn't stop to rest soon, then she would collapse from exhaustion. Nonetheless, she compelled herself to continue pressing onwards. From what she could remember about the subway system, another line ran parallel to the one she was currently running along. If she was lucky, there would be an access tunnel connecting to it before the next station…

A strange noise caught her attention as she continued to run. The tracks were jerking back and forth, causing them to make a clicking noise. From behind her, she could feel the rush of a speeding air current approaching, and knew that the telltale whine of a subway wasn't too far behind. But that wasn't all she was hearing.

Amidst all the other sounds being amplified in the tunnel, Niobe perceived footsteps coming from in front of her, very Agent-like footsteps. It had figured out where she had gone!

She came screeching to a halt, spotting the well tailored sentinel about two hundred meters in front of her. The subway was only a minute or so behind them. Assessing her options, Niobe noted a bright blue light overhanging what looked like an access tunnel from her vantage point, but she wasn't entirely sure. Unfortunately, it looked like her best hope. Against her better judgment, she broke into a sprint towards it. The Agent also broke into a run, and started to cover more distance than her with his unlimited stamina and higher speed. And the subway continued to get closer and closer, the sound of it now overwhelming the entire tunnel. At the last possible second, Niobe jumped towards the Agent and angled herself so she could use him as a springboard, bouncing off his chest towards what she hoped was a tunnel. She was right – it was a tunnel, and she tumbled safely to the ground. Thrust backward by the force of her jump, the Agent lost his footing and only regained it in time for the subway to run him over.

Niobe blinked in shock as the cars sped past her, barely processing the fact that she was still alive, and sprang back to attention at the sound of a telephone ringing somewhere down in the walkway. She dragged herself to her feet and jogged towards it, hoping to God that Jason had managed to hack a hardline closer to her.

When Jason proudly recounted the story of his cunning and Niobe's daring escape to everyone on their shore leave in Zion, Thadeus frowned and swore that he would never trust a Drop Point again if they were that easy to hack. He was true to his word until the day he died.

* * *

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" The Oracle asked Niobe, patiently ambling over to where the troubled woman was sitting and joining her on the wooden bench. Seraph shut the door to the teahouse quietly and turned his back to it, standing guard over his charge. Niobe took a sip of her tea from the tiny cup before setting it back down on the table and looking up at the newcomers.

"Where's Neo?" she asked, confused by his absence.

The Oracle chuckled. "Don't you worry about him. He's in a bit of a pickle right now, but he'll be fine. Now then, let's talk about you for a change."

Reluctantly, Niobe sighed and nodded. "I suppose I don't need to fill you in on the details."

"Some of them," the elderly woman insisted, pulling out a cigarette from her small black purse. "Do you mind?" she asked, gesturing to it. Niobe shook her head, and the Oracle lit up and took a long drag before beginning.

"So, you've been bitten."

"Yes."

"And something was transmitted from the bite into your code. A virus, by my guess."

"Right."

"And it's changing you, even though Neo tried to delete it."

"Yep."

"Are you sure it's the virus?"

She looked at the program in confusion. "I don't understand."

The Oracle set her cigarette down on the table and looked at Niobe pointedly. "What if I told you that there was no virus, that this was all in your head and had been triggered by exactly what Jason said had caused it: stress, the death of a friend, and a near-death experience?" she suggested off-handedly.

"Then I'd say that you were wrong. What you're saying doesn't explain everything," Niobe responded, shaking her head. "Like my teeth, for example."

"Sure it does. Your mind thinks it's real, and so it's reacting accordingly. Isn't all of this in your head? Are you not reacting to the wind, to myself?" the sibyl pointed out while gazing at the surrounding park.

Damn. She was always able to pull the rug from under Niobe's feet, no matter how hard she tried to stay grounded. "So what do I do? I just try to cure myself like they do in fairy tales?"

"You do whatever your mind thinks needs to be done. That is, if you want to do anything," the Oracle said cryptically.

"What makes you think I _don't_ want to do anything?" Niobe demanded incredulously.

The Oracle regarded Niobe bemusedly. "Seraph described to me the outcome of your spar. You were more in your element than you've ever been. Deep down inside, I think you _liked_ the fact that you had been bitten because it had enhanced some of your abilities. Anyone in your position would be tempted by that." She leaned closer to her companion and took off her sunglasses. Niobe jerked away, squinting at the increased light.

"Until you decide whether or not you want to stay this way, you won't be able to do anything, no matter how hard you try," she warned.

"Gee, thanks. That's very helpful," Niobe sneered.

"Hey, that's the simplest I can put it," the Oracle retorted lightly as she extinguished her now finished cigarette and placed it in one of the plates. "But since you seem to be a little slow with your noodle today, I'll be nice and point you in the right direction. Go with Morpheus to see the Merovingian."

"The Merovingian? You mean the French bastard whose house I barely escaped from alive?" Niobe repeated, her mouth gaping wide open in shock by the mere fact that the Oracle would suggest something so crazy. "And what the hell do I do?"

The Oracle stood up and slung her purse carefully into her hands, nodding to Seraph. "It's like Morpheus always says, honey. I can only show you the door. You've got to walk through it."

Niobe felt whatever hope Morpheus had instilled in her for a simple solution quickly fading away. She was trapped in a complex web of invisible strands like a helpless insect, and the harder she tried to escape, the more tangled she became. Her only apparent option was to look in the direction the Oracle was pointing and try to free herself strand by strand. The only problem was that she still didn't trust a damn thing the Oracle said. How could she trust her when she wasn't even human?

* * *

The passage about the myth of Niobe and Latona is from _Latin Via Ovid_, by Norma Goldman and Jacob E. Nyenhuis, 2nd ed.

Last edited July 6, 2004.


	4. Mona Lisa Oversoul

**Happy Birthday Imry!**

These last two parts are completely unbetaed, so everyone come down hard on any mistakes or issues you have with it:)

**Disclaimer**: The Matrix and all its appendages are the brainchildren of Larry and Andy Wachowski and are carefully guarded by Warner Brothers. Enter the Matrix was developed by Shiny Entertainment and produced by Infogames. This is purely a piece of nonprofit entertainment. Cursum Perficio is the title of a song on Enya's Watermark CD. References to other fandoms are intentional.

**Chapter Four**: Mona Lisa Oversoul

* * *

Zion's finest didn't waste any time picking up the trail the Oracle had set them on. In fact, her directions were exact, something Niobe had never expected from her. Within twenty minutes of jacking out and discussing the situation, Morpheus, Trinity, Neo, and Niobe were suited up and en route to Restaurant Le Vrai for a two o'clock meeting with the Merovingian. For the moment, relocating the Keymaker was their primary concern; Niobe's situation was currently on the sidelines, and she preferred it that way. She needed time to put her head around what she had been told. There wasn't much else to do while traversing the building and riding the elevator to their destination in any case. The building was about as aesthetically entertaining as a block of cement, having been built in the most industrial avant-garde style.

But she wouldn't let the languid façade fool her again. The restaurant's atmosphere felt as volatile and fake as the Merovingian's home, and was probably just as dangerous, if the explosives lining the place were any indication.

When they arrived at the lavishly adorned table, Niobe didn't notice Rama Kandra being bustled out as Neo did, but she did see someone she hadn't expected to see in the least.

"You're supposed to be dead," she told him fiercely.

The pale-faced vampire, still clad completely in black, simply shrugged. "You're supposed to be human," he answered lightly.

"Ah yes, I believe you are already acquainted with Vlad as well as some of my associés and my wife, Niobe," the Merovingian remarked, "but I believe this is the first time that I have met any of you. I must say, it is a real pleasure. The elite of Zion all together at once! Such an extraordinary event! Please, join us."

The Zionites sat down wordlessly and the conversation quickly turned to the task at hand.

"I knew you were coming, and I know why. It was inevitable," the Merovingian told them, "It was a matter of causality. One cause generates one effect. Don't you agree?"

"No," Morpheus answered flatly, "There are many paths, each determined by the choices people make. Everything begins there."

"Mais non. We only see one series of events. There is no evidence for other choices. This is an illusion..."

Niobe rolled her eyes and tuned the conversation out. It was like listening to Ghost talk about checking his guns, only more condescending.

_Niobe..._

She found herself staring at Vlad. How had he survived? She clearly remembered driving a stake into his chest in Persephone's room. She could still remember the crunching noise his ribcage had made as she had done so. She clung to the memory in defiance of his presence.

_Niobe..._

Niobe jerked in surprise and glared at the vampire-program to make him shut up. She saw Morpheus and the others look at her worriedly from the corners of their eyes and then realized that no one else had heard Vlad speak. Great, I'm hearing voices in my head now.

_**Niobe**...why are you fighting?_

The words felt like oil sliding across her mind, staining everything in their path and reducing them to a hazy blur. The ongoing conversation with the Merovingian faded away with the rest of the restaurant. She could only perceive herself and Vlad, and even bits of herself felt...tainted by his intrusion. She subconsciously groped for the wound on her neck, covering it with one hand.

_**Embrace** what you're becoming._

_No._

_Think of the **power**!_

Vlad brought a crystal glass filled with a rich-looking red liquid to his lips and drank deeply. Niobe cringed at the sight of it. She could see the pleasure spilling out of his black eyes as a result, and she was tempted by it. As he continued to consume his drink, she felt his suggestions seep into her like freezing rain.

She was a lot more powerful now. She had realized that while fighting Seraph. She felt it increasing as time went by. I'm getting stronger as the virus spreads, she reminded herself vehemently, one with nasty side effects.

_Or are they **tradeoffs**?_

Exchanging light sensitivity for increased strength and speed sounded like a fair deal when she thought about it.

_It's not like I'll ever see the sun..._

She could probably get into highly secured areas like this. She could even maybe take on an Agent...or at the very least, Trinity or Morpheus.

The haze around Morpheus cleared, and Niobe couldn't help but be angry with him. The thought of being able to defeat him in hand to hand combat filled her with twisted satisfaction. The son of a bitch deserved it. He abandoned her for a _prophecy_, of all things! He only started caring again when she took up with Jason, didn't he? Niobe could see herself standing triumphantly over his prone form, one foot poised to crush his windpipe. It would be so easy to do it. And then he was looking at her, dead, with lifeless eyes, and he said:

"We want the Keymaker," Morpheus announced, emphasizing that they would not leave until they knew where he was.

"Ah, yes. But this is only one of two things that you are seeking. N'est-ce pas?"

Their voices, along with the Merovingian's suggestion, broke through the haze that was filling her mind, enabling her to return her focus to the table. She suppressed the memory of the images she had just entertained, appalled with herself.

"I don't recall anyone mentioning that to you," Niobe evasively answered. The Merovingian laughed and finished off his glass of wine.

"You did not have to. After all, it was my associate who...created your current situation. My point is this: you have come to me seeking two things that are of great value to you and an inconvenience to me. And yet you have nothing to offer me in return.

Why would I want to help you?"

No one had an answer to that, which only amused the Exile even more.

"But no, under the directives of your fortuneteller, you came here blindly and without question, never even considering to bring some sort of leverage. You assumed an alternative would present itself, that there was more than one way that this could happen." Wiping his mouth on the silk napkin, he laughed again.

"You humans are so gullible."

"This isn't over," Neo warned the Merovingian.

"Not for me. But for you, it is. Au revoir."

Several of the 'associates', including Vlad, rose from their chairs to escort Morpheus' party out as the Merovingian slinked away. The vampire grabbed Niobe's shoulder, sending a sickening electric sensation through her body. Without hesitation, she shoved him away with one hand, punching him in the face. The force sent blood trickling down his nose. Unfazed, Vlad grinned.

"It's only a matter of time now," he warned her, wiping the droplets of blood off his face and sucking on his bloodied fingers.  
Several feet away, Morpheus watched Niobe worriedly. "He's the one that bit her," he mumbled to himself, trying to figure out what Vlad was trying to do. He was sure there was more to it than intimidation, especially since Niobe wasn't this easy to intimidate.

"He's speeding up the change," Neo quietly told Morpheus. Already Neo could see that Vlad had undone the changes he had done to slow down the virus. He said nothing more, for Niobe walked into earshot and glared at them for staring. Reluctantly, the rebels retreated. Persephone watched them leave, her gaze fixed on Neo and Trinity. Ten seconds later, she collected her purse and trailed after them.

* * *

It was a beautiful spring day, but Vivian was in a terrible mood. Things had gone from bad to worse since her last race.  
Her parents had been furious when they had arrived at the police station to escort her home. Not only had she been charged with drag racing and speeding (again), but driving a vehicle when she didn't even have a license. Even worse, her parents, being her legal guardians, had been slapped with another hefty fine, one that they couldn't possibly pay off without taking out a loan. The whole point of the race had been to win the prize money so she could get her own car back and quit her job at the same time. Now, she found herself depending on her mindless box-stacking job more than ever.

Worst of all, Joseph had never resurfaced. Vivian had tried to call him at least half a dozen times every day for a week, but never got in farther in reaching him than hearing the ring tone. He hadn't called Sally, and no one had seen him at work, school, or even the dojo in ages. It was as if he had literally fallen off the face of the earth.

And of course, to top it all off, today was Wednesday.

Stripped down to shorts and a tank top, Vivian - no, Niobe she decided, having developed a habit of calling herself that, tossed boxes from pallet to shelf without resting. That was just one small thing that her time spent at the dojo had given her - better strength and stamina. Hoping to get some overtime pay, she continued to work after most of the employees had left for lunch. At the moment, it was just her and her quota of boxes, and she liked it that way.

She wasn't sure when he showed up, but when she stopped at one point to wipe her hands clean of some dust, Richard was there with that damned smile smeared across his face. Niobe took one look at him and went back to work although his presence perturbed her.

He was after her every day now, either saying all sorts of unsubtle comments or just staring at her. At this point, she didn't think it made a difference whether she even acknowledged his existence. He didn't appear to care.

"You think you're all that, don't you?" he sneered, striding closer to her. She tensed upon his approach. Richard still had a tendency to put her on edge, but even this time felt different. It was worse.

_Don't be ridiculous_, she told herself. _He's the same as always. Nothing is different._

"Excuse me?" she shot back.

"You heard me," he asserted, "Stop ignoring me. You can't take a hint. All because you're some famous drag racer who thinks she can beat anything with four wheels and an engine."

Her heart dropped to the bottom of her chest like a stone. How the hell does he know about that?

"Yea, I know all about your little hobby," he continued, noting her surprise, "you're not that good at hiding things. Besides, you think that is reason enough not to..." he trailed off, clenching his fists.

"I don't like your attitude. It needs adjustment," he informed her. Niobe narrowed her eyes, refusing to be intimidated by him.

"I don't know what your malfunction is, but it's not my problem," she hissed back with equal force. With that, she turned her back on him, figuring that the altercation would end if she made it clear that she didn't care what he thought. Her overconfidence proved to be a big mistake, because as soon as she turned away, he struck the back of her head. Niobe spun forward, dazed by the attack. _Oh shitshitshit!_ A second blow to the back sent her falling down on her face.

Focus! she ordered herself. _Getupgetupgetupgetup..._

It seemed to work, for the more she pressured herself, the more her awareness of her surroundings returned and became heightened. Time slowed down. Her breaths quickly became even and energizing. Her balance returned. And, she realized where Richard was going to strike next before he had even started to make his move.

With blinding speed that amazed both herself and her aggressor, she gathered herself into a low squat and tripped Richard, who fell down with a grunt. When he tried to get back up, she punched him in the face as hard as she could, and he didn't try to get up again. He couldn't; he was unconscious.

Niobe absently wiped her mouth without really realizing it had been split open. She backed away from Richard's body, but then suddenly changed her mind.

The bastard. She didn't doubt that he would have tried to rape her, maybe even kill her. The very thought terrified and infuriated her. It was her training that had saved her, that had given her strength. She was stronger now. She didn't need a car to beat him anymore.

And she was going to make him pay.

Seizing the heaviest crate she could lift, Niobe lugged it over to his prone body, lifted it as high as she was able to, and dropped it onto his chest, where it landed with the same sickening crunch that Vlad's ribs would later make when she stabbed him. Then, when she realized what she had just done, she fled the warehouse as fast as her legs could carry her, lost in a torrent of anger, fear, pride, and shame over her actions.

No one ever suspected her of killing Richard. Officers took one look at her and dismissed the thought. She was such a tiny girl, and even if she had a record, there was no way she could have lifted a two-hundred pound box in their eyes.  
Niobe never spoke about it to anyone, although she had a nagging feeling that Thaddeus always knew. She didn't have to talk about it; less than a week later she went fro her fated run that put her in contact with the Resistance, and that was where her life in the Matrix ended.

Bottom line was, Niobe knew that she was capable of pure, violent rage. That was the problem.

* * *

"Hurry," Persephone urged her companions, gesturing to the secret passage behind the bookcase that was now quite familiar to Niobe. She let the sultry woman take the lead, still following Morpheus and his crew on autopilot. She preferred the safety of her personal space - for now.

To her surprise, Morpheus was not only more than aware of her frame of mind, he did not pressure her with questions or philosophical commentary. Instead, he just walked beside her, always keeping a decent amount of distance. She tried to glance up at him casually, trying to read his expressions. He noticed her attention and gave a small encouraging smile. _I can't believe that he still believes I can fix this,_ she realized. Even after years of knowing him, he still astounded her.

Again, regret filled her. She missed him. She wouldn't let her pride get in the way of admitting that anymore. Hell, she was pretty sure that she still loved him. She still hated the reasons why he left her, but she didn't hate him. Niobe frowned. Why did she have to come to these conclusions _now_ of all times? None of this was helping her find the solution to the virus.

Persephone stopped abruptly in front of the Keymaker's cell, and Neo took charge. In the meantime, Niobe stayed on guard. This was far too easy for her taste and she was certain that they were going to hit a snag soon enough. Something was going to slip through the cracks in the walls...

"It's you again!" one of the prisoners gasped. Niobe instantly recognized him; he had held down Cain (or was it Abel?) while she and Ghost had fled the Chateau. He had saved their lives.

"Yea," she answered, stepping closer to him. He stared blankly in her direction - his eyes had been gouged. "Thanks for before."

"Why did you come back? Are you insane?"

"I had to," she answered, reaching for the door.

"Had to?" the man repeated, "why-"

Suddenly, he froze in place and gasped again, shocked.

"You've turned!" he accused her, recoiling in fear to the farthest corner of his tiny cell.

"No!" she retorted quietly, trying to calm him down, "I'm not-"

"Get back!" he insisted. "Don't come near me! Go back to your kin in the arena and leave me alone!"

"Come," Persephone demanded, ignoring the prisoner, "my husband will be here any minute."

"Niobe, we must go," Morpheus said.

Behind him, Neo and Trinity flanked the Keymaker, waiting for her to join them. All she had to do was nod and follow them out.

_And then what? Return to Zion, hope that all goes well, and live with a dislike of light and a love for blood? No fucking way! _Niobe told herself. _There has to be a way out of this, and I know that it's somewhere in this place. I can't leave until I find it._

"Go. I'll catch up," she insisted.

Trinity shook her head. "You'll be in here alone and without an operator or backup," she warned. Niobe couldn't help but concede that she was right.

"I will stay," Morpheus decided.

"Like hell you will!" Niobe responded hotly.

Morpheus looked back and forth between her and his crew, clearly torn. He nodded to Neo and Trinity, who got the message and took of back to the foyer with the Keymaker and Persephone in tow.

"Morpheus, don't even _think_ about it. You're compromising your crew," Niobe argued, still refusing to budge.

He regarded her, still torn, and sighed. "I don't want to leave you behind again," he confessed softly.

"You're not. I just need to get some things sorted out in here." When he still hesitated, Niobe exhaled sharply and took his hand. "Go finish what you started. Please."

He squeezed her hand, and she forced a brave smile. His hands were warm and comforting, and she didn't really want to let go. But she did in any case, relaxing her grip and stepping away. Accepting her choice, Morpheus tore off after Neo and Trinity while Niobe settled her nervous breaths, the ramifications of what she had decided to do setting in.

Receding deep inside her mind, she forced herself to embrace the burning bloodlust coursing its way through her and compelled it to deliver a destination. _Show me where he wants me to go, where this virus wants me to wind up! _she demanded herself. Something eventually came to her, and she let herself be guided to it, hoping that she could hold of the virus' progression with sheer willpower.

* * *

"I have to do this, Niobe. I have to go," Morpheus insisted, slinging his pack over his shoulder.

"Why?" Niobe demanded again. His attitude had changed completely since his last run a month ago, and she wasn't about to let him walk out on her without explaining himself. Why was he so distant? So distracted? Why did he spend all of his spare time in the Temple, in the Archives, and in Manifest rooms reading reports on Potentials?

He hovered at the hatch of their quarters, clearly torn between stopping to tell her and making a clean break. Looking at her sadly, he sighed.

"I didn't want to believe it, Niobe. But I met the Oracle. She _knew_ things. She stirred something inside of me that I have always known was there and told me why it existed."

"And why does it exist?"

"Because I have to find the One. I need to learn how to find him, so that I _can_ find him."

"And I don't fit in the equation?" she concluded angrily. He shook his head.

"No. You deserve better. And I cannot give it to you when I must focus on this."

Niobe scoffed and left the room refusing to let him see her be hurt over this. "You've always been such a dramatist, but you're right," she tossed back, "this wouldn't work out between us. It isn't fair. Don't expect me to wait!"

Four years later, the argument still stung at her as much as it stung at him.

* * *

Six feet above in the Chateau's Great Hall, the Merovingian cursed at his turn of bad luck. Why did his wife have to bear a grudge now, of all times? Granted, he knew it was going to happen eventually. He knew everything. It was his trade. This time he simply must have made a minor miscalculation in assessing her irateness, that was all. _En tous cas_, he reminded himself, _the damage is done_. He would make amends with Persephone later.

He saw Morpheus appear in time to rejoin his motley crew, although they were still one member short. The Merovingian didn't like that. He hated it when things became unpredictable.

"Let's see how this plays out," he muttered to himself, still confident that he nonetheless had the upper hand. He gestured to the Twins. "Get the Keymaker.

His command sparked a chase between them and Trinity and Morpheus. The remainder of his entourage moved to contend with Neo, but he held Vlad back. There was still one last unpredictable element to attend to before the program would feel at ease once more.

"Vlad," the Merovingian hissed as the vampire prepared to do his bidding, "I have exercised more than enough patience with regards to your endeavor. If you still cannot control your pet, kill her."

* * *

As silent as a cat, Niobe crept through the Merovingian's wine cellar towards the place she felt most drawn to.

The arena.

It was exactly as Niobe had left it when she had been stuck in the Chateau before. Dark, damp chiseled stone formed an outer wall and an inner circular pit. Broken and empty liquor bottles and ash littered the pit's stone floor.

She stepped down into it with ease and located a broken wooden arrow, one of the ones she had used against Cujo, the lycan. It was better than nothing, so she picked it up and pocketed it. Niobe wasn't bothered by the fact that she had no gun. She already knew that bullets would be of no use here.

_Niobe..._

Her blood turned to ice again, and she turned to face the newcomer, who was leering at her from the upper section of the arena.

Vlad.

* * *

Morpheus glared at the Twin who was holding Trinity hostage. Damn the programs! They were beginning to become ridiculously irritating. Thankfully, that didn't mean that he couldn't devise a strategy to deal with them.

Under the pretext of lowering his weapons to the ground, he unleashed a spray of bullets at the Twin's arm to enduce him to shift into nothingness. To his surprise, not only did his weapon hit the mark (or, rather, passed through it), but a second wave of gunfire also erupted, alternately directed at both Twins.

Trinity jumped free, returned to Morpheus' side and spied the unknown gunman lurking in the shadows.

"Ghost?" she said in disbelief..

"Quickly! Before they come back!" the Keymaker called out. He produced a key from his large collection and opened up the nearest car.

The Twins finally fazed back into matter and healed their wounds. Morpheus unsheathed the katana he had snatched earlier and advanced on the apparitions. "Go!" he ordered his second-in-command.

Trinity slipped into the car the Keymaker had opened, pushing him into the backseats before revving up the engine. Ghost climbed into the passenger side and reloaded his weapon.

Her mentor sliced through the Twins unsuccessfully as they sped off into the City. Unable to keep up the pace, Morpheus began to retreat to the still-open doorway back into the Chateau. The Twins were relentless, and, Morpheus realized, unbeatable. He did not have the skill to defeat them one-on-one when they possessed such a crazy advantage.

Desperate to end the confrontation now that Trinity and Ghost were already gone, Morpheus fell back on using his gun. The gunfire did force the Twins to faze out of existence and allowed him to get closer to the door, but he ran out of ammunition while still having a few paces to go. Tossing the useless gun to the side, he dashed for the exist.

If Neo had not been there trying to catch up to them, he never would have made it. Using his hyperactive speed, he grabbed his captain's arm and yanked him back inside the Chateau, slamming the door with his other hand to lock the Twins out.

"Are you all right?" Neo asked, helping Morpheus to his feet.

"Yes, I am fine. Trinity escaped with Ghost and the Keymaker. They'll need your help," Morpheus answered, seeing the worry Neo was undoubtedly feeling about Trinity's safety. He could relate at the moment.

"Okay," Neo agreed. He hesitated before returning to the upper levels to get outside. "Are you two going to be okay?"

Morpheus smiled. They really were thinking alike. "Yes," he assured him, "We'll be fine."

He truly believed that now. Time and time again, his intuition had been proven correct. His intuition had told him that leaving Niobe was a mistake. It was right. Niobe was a part of the Prophecy, just like all of Zion was. In his rashness, Morpheus had believed that he could designate who was or wasn't a part of it. The fact that Niobe kept gravitating back to them had proven him wrong. He was not about to start doubting his intuition now that he knew how to listen to it.

Nodding to Neo, he made his way back underground while Neo took to the skies.

* * *

Meanwhile, Trinity ripped through the city streets at top speed, evading the Twins as she went.

"How did you get into the garage?" she asked her brother, the curiosity getting the better of her.

Ghost fired several times at the Twins' tires before pulling his head back into the car. "Sparks and I came to find you. He worked with Link to patch a way in," he explained as quickly as he could. He had to hand it to the operators - the patch had been pure genius on their part.

His cell phone rang, and he answered it, setting it to transmit through the car's radio so Trinity could benefit from it as well.

"You convinced him to come back out?" she observed in surprise, quirking a smile, "How did you do that?"

Ghost shrugged. "I gave him my boots."

"Shut up Ghost," Sparks muttered, his voice crackling through the speakers.

"What's our status?" Trinity asked, changing the subject.

"The local hardlines have been blockaded, the cops are on your tails along with those Twin-things, and shit! I think I just saw an Agent! All we need now is for the Silons to attack and everything'll be catastrophic," he reported sarcastically.

"Any way out?" Ghost pressed, ignoring Spark's snark.

"The nearest hardline is off the freeway."

"Morpheus always said that the freeway is suicide." Trinity pointed out. The Keymaker squeaked.

"Trin, I think we've established that we're all a few cards short of a full deck! What more do you want from me?" Sparks yelled back.

Seeing that they had no other real choice, Trinity sighed. "All right. Tell me how to get there."

* * *

"I knew you would come," Vlad cooed, his phrase reminiscent of his master's. Niobe held her ground as he slinked towards her. he jumped down into the pit with the same ease that she had, never breaking his stride.

"From the moment I saw you, I knew you could be turned. I saw, and still see, the rage buried in your head, the rage that you've denied yourself."

His words were poison to her resolve. Already she could feel the ice creeping in her veins again, urging her to agree with his assessment of her. Niobe fought back, pouring all of her mental focus into pushing the encroaching ice away.

"Why do you deny it?" Vlad pressed softly, venturing to gently run a hand up her arm. The contact made Niobe nauseous. She felt like she was trying to work against a stampeding elephant. The urge to fall under Vlad's sway became unbearable.

"You know what it feels like," he whispered, caressing her cheek, "to gorge on someone's pain, to have the power to end life in the palm of your hand, the satisfaction and pleasure..."

He removed her sunglasses and looked her in the eye. "You've done it before. You can do it again."

Vlad took a step backward, trying to assess if the virus had completed its function. Niobe meekly stepped back towards him and smiled, baring her fangs. Vlad was ecstatic.

And then she shoved the broken arrow shard into his chest. He wasn't so ecstatic about that.

Vlad howled in pain and reeled backwards, glaring at Niobe, who had assumed an attack stance. She had distinctly felt a change in herself when he had been injured. It was like getting a sip of water after walking through a desert with none. Based on that, she knew what she had to do to end this.

He clenched the end of the wooden shard and pulled with all his might. It came out, and he chucked it to the side.

"You missed. Again."

_Damn. Ghost always had a better aim._

Within seconds, Vlad had leapt forward, engaging the two of them in a bitter brawl. He was furious and lashed out at her in rage with every move, doing everything he could to pin her down. Niobe pulled out all the stops to keep off the assault, using every tactic she knew to enhance her speed and conserve her focus. For a moment or two, she pushed herself into attacking, her fists raging with equal ferocity as his. But she couldn't keep the pace up, having spent most of her energy warding off his mental attack, and he managed to get in several strong blows, eventually pinning her to a wall of the arena by the throat. Rubbish clattered below her as she struggled to break free.

"You cannot win," he said, his hand tightening its grip around her neck while the other held her chest down. Niobe gasped for breath while he leaned closer, watching her with a gleeful expression. "You will join me or you will die," he told her.

Behind him, Niobe spotted another darkly-dressed figure entering the arena and caught the sight of a glint of steel by his side. When the person started to advance on them, she summoned up the remainder of her strength and kicked Vlad in the side. It didn't hurt him in the least, but it put him off-balance enough for Morpheus to knock him off of her.

Enraged by his presence and assuming Niobe was no longer a threat, Vlad redirected all of his attention to him, leaving her sprawled on the ground to regain her breath. Morpheus wielded his katana like a madman, trying to land a hit on the vampire, but found it equally difficult as working against the Twins. Like Niobe, he too was tired, and his moves were lagging enough to give Vlad room to evade.

Morpheus pressed harder on the attack in hopes of cutting the fight short, but slipped up, allowing Vlad to knock the sword out of his hands. It tumbled off out of his reach, landing a few feet away from a dazed Niobe.

Encouraged by this turn of events, Vlad boldly swiped Morpheus across the face and chest and then took a leap backwards to gloat and watch him stumble.

"Stupid human. I'm a program! I'm immortal! I'll live for all eternity!" he spat.

"Then spend it in pieces!" Niobe yelled back. Gripping Morpheus' katana in both hands, she whirled herself towards the vampire and aimed for his head. With one powerful swoop, it was sliced off and toppled unceremoniously to the ground.

Both Vlad's body and hers collapsed to the ground, the former writhing in pain and the latter twitching in confusion. Morpheus closed the distance between himself and Niobe in seconds, drawing her to him comfortingly while she coughed and gasped.

"Niobe?"

She blinked several times to shake the cobwebs out of her mind and relaxed into Morpheus' chest. Niobe wasn't completely sure if decapitating Vlad had done the trick, but there was no more ice in her veins and her eyes didn't hurt anymore. What's more, she felt no pleasure or satisfaction from killing the program, only exhaustion.

"I'm fine," she assured Morpheus, smiling as he helped her up."Why did you come back?"

"I had to," he answered simply. Niobe nodded and grasped his hands in thanks. Like before, they were warm, and the warmth was comforting, only now it was even more so because she could feel the heat of her own hands returning. Unable to come up with a vocal reply to her touch, Morpheus wrested one of his hands free from hers and snaked it behind her neck, bringing her lips to his. She kissed him back deeply, the pent-up feelings from the past four years of separation spilling out, and she was thrilled to feel him respond back in kind.

They allowed themselves only a few seconds of distraction before breaking the kiss off. Niobe stopped only to collect a set of keys from Vlad's pockets to ensure their escape, anxious to be back in her element behind the wheel with her foot on the gas pedal.


	5. Following the Sun

**Disclaimer**: The Matrix and all its appendages are the brainchildren of Larry and Andy Wachowski and are carefully guarded by Warner Brothers. Enter the Matrix was developed by Shiny Entertainment and produced by Infogames. This is purely a piece of nonprofit entertainment. Cursum Perficio is the title of a song on Enya's Watermark CD. References to other fandoms are intentional.

**Epilogue**: Following the Sun

* * *

**Three weeks post-Revolutions**

Niobe carefully maneuvered the hovercraft through the last tight squeeze in the tunnels and exhaled a sigh of relief as the Desert came into view. Beside her, Morpheus double-checked the position of their exit point and logged it into the computer.

Repairs on the Mjolnir had finally been completed, and Morpheus was anxious to reestablish contact with the Matrix and see the the aftermath of Neo and Trinity's sacrifices. They were also testing the limits of Zion's newfound truce with the machines. The Council had granted them leave to go, and Roland had happily allowed Niobe and Morpheus to command his ship, saying that he was still too tired to get back in the game. The remainder of his crew and theirs had joined forces to operate it.

Actually, that was only half of the reason why they were out there.

While on the whole, Niobe felt completely back to normal, she sometimes still had doubts that nibbled at her about the vampire-virus. It was small things - the intensity of some lights, a sore jaw from her unreceded canines, a violent thought...all things that she set aside in the heat of the end of the war and dismissed as aftereffects. But now, having the luxury of time to think, she wasn't sure.

Which was why she was there, on the surface of the Earth for the first time in her life. There was only one way that she knew of to confirm or vanquish her uncertainty. She set the ship in a hovering mode and looked at Morpheus.

"You know you don't have to do this," he reminded her, already knowing what her response would be. She wouldn't settle for anything but the cold, hard truth, even if it killed her. She couldn't settle for anything less. It was who she was. It was one of the things he loved about her, and that was why he agreed to help her make this detour.

"I know," she answered, smiling warmly. Niobe didn't need to add in anything else. They understood each other well enough.

Throwing the hovercraft into full throttle, Niobe angled it upwards. It rose past the wreckage of abandoned city spires and broke through the artificial sky, revealing the sun in all its glory.

The light hurt her eyes, but it did not burn.

The end.

* * *

I'd like to thank everyone that's reviewed or read this thing over the past two years for their support and comments. I'm really sorry that I didn't write it faster, and even more so that I didn't really respond to many reviews. Hopefully you guys got a couple of hours of entertainment out of it. :) 


End file.
